#and may your cult fanatics burn with you

[constantvariations]

V9C10

Here it is, folks. Season finale of the worst RWBY season to ever be made. Yee to the haw

Post Ep: nowhere near as offensive as what I was expecting but holy exposition dump Batman

Noticing this one is 26 minutes long as opposed to last ep’s 16. Thank fuck, I was genuinely worried the finale was going to be bite sized

I swear on every god ever made that if I hear that damn question again I Will Find People

Having this flashback right after the numerous cliffhangers of the last episode is really strange. Unless this is something Ruby is seeing after touching the axe, then this should not be front and center

Is Summer’s hair even long enough to pull off that rose knot? As the y/n protagonist always throwing their hair in a messy bun, I’m no expert on hairstyles, but every time I’ve seen a hair design like that, it’s always been with hair down to the shoulder blades at least

What the hell is that line “I always prefer discretion”? It sounds so unnatural coming from these people and that awkward chuckle afterword cringed my spine into a pretzel. This couple with a child and possible marriage feel like awkward dates at the prom

Why are the mouth animations for smiles this season so damn weird? I wouldn���t be surprised if the animators forgot what a smile looks like considering their circumstances Also does Raven look off to anyone else? I can’t put my finger on it but it’s not quite the same as her V5 model Also also, this makes it really fucking stupid that Yang’s original purpose to finding Raven was to get information on Summer and IT WAS NEVER FOLLOWED THROUGH

OKAY Ruby was seeing it! Thank fuck they got SOMETHING right

Someone put some damn captions on this bitch. I should not be hearing the kits messing with the recycling more than the dialogue

Ruby hasn’t been violent when upset since Weiss and the tree in V1 iirc. Strange trait to bring back now, but aight Also, how the fuck do you get “give up” from “maybe you ain’t the only bitch with this problem.” That’s some Reed Richards stretching right there

Aaaaaaaand back to fucking Jaune. It amuses me that characters who ire me intensely get “fucking” added to their name like an honorific

Alyx’s hair straight up looks like the dusters I use to clean fiber out of the machines at work

Blake straight up did nothing for the solid ten seconds Nyeo attacked her lmaooo

Hey, look! Team attacks! When the fuck did those get strategized?

Listen, I genuinely feel bad for Neo here. I don’t care about the bullshit of last episode; no one deserves to have their body violated like that

Holy fuck that is a visual monstrosity my eyes are fucking burning

“Your time is running out” bitch the caterpillar got a whole day or two, why does Ruby get like. 2 hours max?

God can they stop with the bees we get it theyre canon stop the fucking bees I’m developing a goddamn allergy at this point

Hey, Weiss ain’t the first one to have her aura broken for once!

Feels stupid cheap to have Ruby choose herself because of a thing her mom said while she was asleep a decade ago instead of Ruby actually going through options and debating until she realizes that she can’t/doesn’t want to be anyone else Like. Nothing really happened to make her switch from suicidal to accepting? She saw a flashback, had a vague conversation with the blacksmith, and looked at some weapons. Where is the development? Why is she suddenly okay with being Ruby Rose again when five minutes ago she drank the tea? The biggest thing so far is the flashback, but that’s stupid. Her mother’s impact should NOT be that great considering she a) hasn’t been around for the majority of Ruby’s life, therefore the only tie between them is blood relations and b) was JUST revealed to have left the family willingly for secret reasons

The music is dope though. Red Like Roses has always been one of my favorites

The “We Love Ruby! <3″ lines delivered one by one is so damn awkward. Is this an after school special? Weren’t these the exact kinds of lines that Weiss said LAST EPISODE were unhelpful to Ruby due to the pressure they inadvertently put on her?

Once again, I am asking what the fuck the Neojabbers are since her semblance is MIRROR ILLUSIONS not PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATION. Like, glad that even the heroes are horrified by someone being eaten alive, but it still doesn’t make any sense Also what’s going to happen to Wonderland without Curious as its monitor or whatever? How are the folks who can’t reach the tree without help going to ascend? Is this a good thing or is it going to send Wonderland into an unbalanced nightmare?

“[Neo] will find herself.” Uh huh. Sure MKEK. That’s the reason Neo’s staying in Wonderland instead of charging after Cinder with the force of a thousand suns. Y’all really dragged my dead gay son into this mess for this horseshit

“I like to think we did at least a little good.” Exactly when did you guys help anybody? All I can think of is that stupid cheese root from the first episode

If Little follows them into Remnant I’m throwing RT into the ocean. Especially if they don’t let Juniper come along. That dude is the only mf in this season that didn’t get fucked over

Is this one-by-one dialogue about another character’s traits going to be a thing? I’m already sick of it

Somewhat. That’s the new name. Why couldn’t they go with the standard Socks or Blue or Kai or insert other silly common nb name here. Do you know how difficult it’s going to be making that sound natural?

I genuinely am uncomfortable at this reunion. Ruby’s incredibly emotional but Somewhat is just kinda there. Reminds me way too much of meeting someone who knew me as a kid and get way too intimate because of that (it happened a lot since my grams raised like. half the town back in the day) Did they really just throw this in to throw it in? What’s the point of this deeply creepy scene other than answering the question of “what happened to Little?”

Nooo bring Juniper with you!!! They’re the only good character!!!

Hold hands and jump at the same time. Reach the ground at different times. Aight

So the gods were originally Afterans? “The tree’s earliest blossoms.” That raises so many fucking questions: how did Remnant come to be if it’s an entirely separate dimension(?) from Wonderland? What connects the two? Are the entities in the relics Afterans as well? If so, are they in the relics willingly? Were they created by the brothers or the tree? Does this make the tree the source of all life as they know it? What powers the tree? If Wonderland goes to shit, will that affect Remnant and any other playgrounds the brothers or other gods might have made?

These mfs really using Mr Monty’s words to justify their shitty god tier writing?

Why did the brothers build modern human houses for the animal creatures instead of creature specific housing (a dam for beavers, a nest for birds, etc)? This seems to be early stages of life so I don’t think you need to delve straight into Craftsman architecture

The jabber origin is so dumb. These idiot brothers tried to design a lawnmower and made Jason Voorhees Also, that doesn’t even make sense. Wonderland is a self contained ecosystem where all energy essentially gets recycled. The jabber disrupts that by permanently ending whoever it gets its chompers on. This would make more sense if we saw new life coming in, but so far it seems like all the tree creations happened back in the day and everything now is a brother creation. Since we’ve yet to see any evidence of their return, this means that there is a finite amount of life in Wonderland, meaning that the jabber, given enough time, could end all life within because it has no other purpose and no counterbalancing force Though, since Neo killed(?) the jabber, does this mean there is no force working for or against the living in Wonderland? Seriously, what the fuck is going to happen here?

“True balance requires only love and the patience to see things through to the end.” Tell me you’re begging for a v10 greenlight without telling me you’re begging for a v10 greenlight That’s not even remotely true because balance, especially among the sentient, requires EFFORT and COOPERATION. Or did y’all already forget your “trust in love” season got people murdered?

LITTLE DIDN’T EVEN FUCKING DO ANYTHING JFC THEY WERE SEXY LAMPING THE WHOLE SEASON

Jaune is young again. Many shocking. Much wow

“When you are needed most.” It better be in that fucking desert y’all dumped two whole ass cities in with only like. 4 trained warriors against a horde of grimm in a sandstorm

Nope! That would’ve been too straining on the budget much of a downer to end on. Still shot of Sepia - I mean, Vacuo and that’s it! Show’s over, folks!

I can’t discern a single word but I like the ending song lol

THESE MFS REALLY ADVERTISING THE JL CROSSOVER AFTER THE EP OHMYGODDDDDDDDD

[phxntomhives]

"The parade of battlers" analysis

SINCE NO ONE IS DOING THIS??? WHY??? I WILL DO IT

Hopefully my wrong takes will trigger someone and you all will get a decent analysis

Eng lyrics because I don't know japanese are from the official music video! Also warning, English isn't my mother tongue.

Lost in an unacceptable tragedy

An unfading warmth quivers blue in the depth of my eyes

Stifling impurities leave keloid scars and

Even now, still mourn for days gone by, never to come back

Staking my life, spitting blood and vomit

All I want to do is lead a beautiful life

But why can't you hear

Me telling you not to stumble

Love turning on its head, fiction caught in a tangle

Say bye bye to mundane concepts

See how the compensated formless stand imposingly

Their presence is a sight to behold

Rip apart, drag and reveal

Throw away all inferiorities

Even the raw emotions of cursing someone

Take them in like an offering

Just skilled at pretending to be human

Searching for those other than monsters

Like the blue shimmer of

A star of the first magnitude

Far from having enough faith

This utterly ridiculous destiny won't retreat

Fill the air with the echo of the marching boots

Let the parade of the lonely ones begin now

Everything in this world, there isn't much

Difference between the atrocious or noble as you think

Somewhere up in the sky, someone is making selections

To ensure the cycle of birth and passing is upheld

Though we have prayed and knelt down

Our prayers have been cremated

And ignored with a "So what?"

So kind

A colorless encounter, pupils of glass

Thought they may shatter to pieces,

You laugh your head off, saying, "you must be kidding"

You give the finger as you spew poison and let it all out

Scorched, boiling and trembling

A blazing fire from the past still smolders

That remorse still within me

I'll burn and retaliate in full

There is no such thing as eternity, so

There is no ending until all turns to ash

Then why not play

With fire in a refined manner?

No more need for empty rhetorics

Such hollow, scathing criticism

Burn this ceaseless stone-throwing

The parade of the lonely ones has just begun

There's no love, no love, there's no love there

There's nothing, there's nothing, there's no truth

There's just one, just one

In this world, just one person, one person

Question fanatically and

Live the shit out of this world

ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT BECAUSE THIS BITCH IS LONG

ALSO MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE MANGA!!!

Yana, dear, are you sure this is the intro for the Weston college arc??? And not the blue cult??? LIKE, REALLY REALLY SURE??? My comprehension of text can be lacking in more than one way and I just followed the vibe but... I don't think I am that wrong on some points? You are seeing it too, right?

I feel like the song has a mix of present, past and future along with different POVs and I hope I have been able to separate them well.

The colors are just to show the lyrics and i changed it because pretty.

What I can actually connect to Weston Arc

"Then why not play with fire in a refined manner? / No more need for empty rhetorics Such hollow, scathing criticism. / Burn this ceaseless stone-throwing" Which could very much be related to O!Ciel's pyromaniac episode lol. He didn't forget

"The parade of the lonely ones has just begun" : at this point the "parade of the lonely" could very much be the parade of the bizzare dolls considering the amount of reference there is to them. And it would be nice considering in this case the sentence is right after the stone-throwing Purple house, since the students were "transfered" in the there.

If the previous point is correct then also here, we are talking of the bizzare dolls: "This utterly ridiculous destiny won't retreat / Fill the air with the echo of the marching boots / Let the parade of the lonely ones begin now". I guess the "echo of the marching boots" could be the sound the dolls made before getting free during the midnight tea party? As for why they don't retreat well, we have seen they aren't exactly rational for now.

"Scorched, boiling and trembling / A blazing fire from the past still smolders / That remorse still within me /I'll burn and retaliate in full": this could be a description of what O!Ciel is feeling in general. His determination coming from everything that happened is still going strong.

Onestly, these are the only thing I can see strictly related to the present and this arc in particular lol. Everything else goes deeper.

Memories of the past

This part will likely make the least sense, because I am still sobbing over the whole past ok.

"Lost in an unacceptable tragedy Even now, still mourn for days gone by, never to come back": We all know the past. The safest bet is that O!Ciel is mourning, but is he? He never had the time to mourn, he moved immediately to revenge and working for the queen. So either this is just to hit us in the feeling, or maybe it's my favourite victim of this analysis: Undertaker. Could it be him? Possibly, but this being O!Ciel breaks my heart more. I am excluing R!Ciel because at the moment of Weston arc his version should not be that complex. And Sebastian is Sebastian.

"Staking my life, spitting blood and vomit /All I want to do is lead a beautiful life / But why can't you hear / Me telling you not to stumble": I feel like this either O!Ciel talking to himself, admitting that he would like to just be happy but still forcing himself to be strong and act to revenge his family. Or, high on copium, the first part is O!Ciel's wishes and the second part is O!CIel using the R!Ciel allucination make himself stronger (I doubt it, but it adds to the sadness).

"Rip apart, drag and reveal / Throw away all inferiorities /Even the raw emotions of cursing someone /Take them in like an offering": I got the epiphany after several times of reading this and yes it's about revenge hatred yadda yadda yadda. But what if, in particular, it's related to the moment when O!Ciel summoned Sebastian? I think it's the only time I remember "offering" being mentioned/relevant in the manga. O!Ciel is throwing everything away for revenge, assuming a new identity. So this could be either O!Ciel talking to himself during that desperate time. Or, just to hurt myself more, him allucinating again a conversation with R!Ciel where R!Ciel is the one that is saying all this. I will go cry now, brb.

"Everything in this world, there isn't much /Difference between the atrocious or noble as you think / Though we have prayed and knelt down / Our prayers have been cremated /And ignored with a "So what?" " : God, this section is killing me. Memories of when the twins were captured, For them and all the other children, it was an atrocious experience, while the nobles were truly thinking they were in the right, that there was nothing wrong in what they were doing. They believed to be noble enough to be above everything and ignored absolutely everything in regards to the children.

Undertarker is not being subtle. Like at all.

Somewhere up in the sky, someone is making selections/To ensure the cycle of birth and passing is upheld: here I am conflicted. Undertaker is sure making selections when he is creating the bizzare dolls "you get to be revived. you don't". But at the same time he is not uphelding anything. He is doing the opposite infact. Unless this is supposed to just describe the Shinigami's role to show how Undertaker is going in the opposite direction.

There's just one, just one/In this world, just one person, one person/Question fanatically and/Live the shit out of this world: we only really see two characters question stuff: O!Ciel with the murder of his family and Undertaker with the Cinematic record ways of working. Now, i don't really see O!Ciel "question fanatically" and "live the shit out of this world", while we can debate about how "fanatically" he is searching for the culprits, how are you telling me he is living his best life? He is surronded by trauma, has to go on a mission for the queen every other day, has to live as his dead twin and in this specific arc he has to act all cutesy and adorable when he hates it. He is far from any best life I am more surprised he didn't become histerical yet honestly. The one that IS living his best life is Undertaker (well... more or less). In the Weston Arc he did say he was enjoying being the headmaster. Plus he could make some more esperiments on Derek&co which, on top of that, were mostly successful! Do you know how much serotonin a succesful experiment gives you? A LOT. TRUST ME.

Bizzare Dolls (BD for short because I am lazy)

Well, ofc they are the protagonist of the animation, they are everywhere in the song too.

"An unfading warmth quivers blue in the depth of my eyes / Stifling impurities leave keloid scars and": Are the BD warm? Idk, but I don't think so? A body is warm when the blood is running because the heart is pumping it. Do BD have a working heart tho? I doubt the original version do, but what about the new and improved versions? Agares could have probably be our best bet but he always wore gloves (even when he was alive) so we don't really know.

Warmth aside, what I am quite confident IS a reference to the BD is the keloid scars. I did a reseach and a keloid scar is a "scar keeps growing and becomes bigger than the original wound. They are developed after a skin injury". The scars we have seen are O!Ciel's scar from when they marked him, or the BD's "surgery" scars?

Ofc it could be just metaphorical about the trauma just keep on growing in O!Ciel. Maybe it's more this one but again, I am take things directly

"Love turning on its head, fiction caught in a tangle/Say bye bye to mundane concepts/See how the compensated formless stand imposingly/Their presence is a sight to behold": cambridge dictionary say that "turn something on its head means to cause something to be the opposite of what it was before". Apparently, there are many things that are the opposite of love, depending on your source: hatred, fear, indifference. I think in this case, since we are talking of the BD, we can use indifference. They aren't moved by real emotions at this moment (Weston arc) and even later, they are probably fake emotions based on fake memories (from the orphanage children but I will not elaborate, other theories have done it better). Fear could also work since well, most people are rightfully terrified of them. Being far away from mundane concepts? I would say they fill this box. And they sure are a sight to behold, nothing against it. What confuses me is the "compensated formless" I don't have any idea of what it could mean

"Just skilled at pretending to be human / Searching for those other than monsters + Like the blue shimmer of / A star of the first magnitude / Far from having enough faith": We are looking at the current arcs here in the first lines. The one skilled at pretending to be human and searching for things is Sebastian (it can't be O!Ciel because he isn't pretending to be human). What he is searching is the headmaster, that we know being Undertaker and it ends up bringing with him, again, the BD. In particular, it specifically mentions R!Ciel. You know what is the name of the biggest star of first magnitude that is currently known? Yeah, you are correct, it's Sirius. And we have known Ciel is Sirius for a while now. As to why the star does not have lot's of faith, do I have to remind you "Dear God, why are you smiling?".

"So kind /A colorless encounter, pupils of glass /Thought they may shatter to pieces,/ You laugh your head off, saying, "you must be kidding"": Listen, I have seen a couple of people mentioning "oh it's a reference to monochrome no kiss". But I don't think that's the case, not completely at least. I think this is a parallel of O!Ciel and Sebastian's meeting to R!Ciel and Undertaker. First because one of the people involved is laughing, and Sebastian smirks but has never really laughed out loud, the one that spends his time laughing is Undertaker. Second is the pupils of glass that can shatter to pieces. I wonder if it means that R!Ciel could be using glass balls for his eyes? When we have seen his not-completed form they look pretty empty and they are made of soft tissue, so maybe Undertaker changed the "real eyes" with glass? Idk. The shattering could also indicate the fragility of the BD that are still far from perfect.

There is no such thing as eternity, so /There is no ending until all turns to ash this made me scream Undertaker's BD because we know he needs a full budy for the creation of his dolls and bringing back to life his loved ones. And we know he can't bring back Vincent because his body was too ruined by the fire. So fire IS the only ending in which a person can just die with no possible interference from a Shinigami with resurrection intent.

Tragedy twins

I had no idea of these lines other than, it just fits the vibes. Until I remembered how much Yana likes to mirror the twins.

There's no love, no love, there's no love there: this one is R!Ciel singing. Undertaker may have started to work on the BD out of grief for his loved ones, but it feels like it turned into an obsession.

There's nothing, there's nothing, there's no truth: let's add some angst because this one was not enough. O!Ciel never gets to discover the truth behind the murder of his family before he dies. Maybe we, as readers, can see it. Maybe from Sebastian's eyes. But yeah, we don't have a guarantee that O!Ciel will ever know anything, he could just die with Sebastian being unable to prevent it (either because it happened due to a Shinigami, or maybe an angel or god knows what).

But of course, we can also swap them! O!Ciel was so confident people wouldn't have liked him coming back alive and so started the whole identity swap, so he could still feel like the love he is receiving now is fake, since it's built on a lie. While R!Ciel's truth could now be either the murder or the family again, or the fact that he isn't "real" now. He is a BD, his action and thoughts are based on memories that are likely not his own. He has become a fake, a lie. "There is no truth" because that is a BD similar to him, and not necessary him.

I am exhausted I haven't thought about something this much since my thesis. Yes some of them are quite the stretch, hopefully I will trigger a smart person and finally we get a good analysis. Meanwhile you have to deal with me. Feel free to add your opinions pls, I love hearing theories.

PSA: I have formatted this half on computer and half of phone so idk how weird the formatting is I will check again tomorrow, now I'm tired of rereading it.

[viky2318]

absolutely didn't just finish to see the most weird cartoon filled with gore and violence i ever knew a.k.a. Unicorn Wars.

Rambling AND SPOILERS under the cut.

THAT FILM IS AN ABSOLUTE TRAIN WRECK. THE ENDING SIMPLY KILLED ME-

Now seriously though I feel like it has one of a goddamn deep meaning behind it: there's Azulin who's all the bad things in the world (the fanatism, the jelousy, the betrayal, the violence etccc). Honestly I didn't see many good things in this character, but maybe I simply didn't pay enough attention. Then there is Gordi, who's all the good things in the world (the kindness, the morals, the forgiveness etccc). He's a saint but chubby. Also he's able to defend himself because being good doesn't mean being weak or naive. AND THEN MARIA COMES. That unicorn is the innocence of the world. SHE is the naive and defensless one. she's a child, that acts instincively (throwing herself in the creepy ruin at the beginning even if the bunny told her not to because of the voice of the mother, for example) that trusts the first person who looks kind (she trusted Gordi with little to no hesitation even if he was a bear) and is the first one to disappear in the ugly big blob. because innocence is the first one to die against the others when there is no concience. Gordi is the second one to get eaten by the blob thing, because "good" has morals and common sense, and may be less violent and persistent than "bad". Azulin gets absorbed or eaten or whatever last. even the "bad" dies in the end. and all those things together make the human being. humans are made of a bit of good, a bit of bad and, even if in smaller part or only for the first years of life, innocence.

Let's then take out Padre: he's the concience, that voice in your head that says "don't do that, it's dangerous" and that guides you. He gave Azulin something to reach when he was down, a goal. Azulin slowly made it become fanatism, but the starting point was something positive. the first time they didn't listen to Padre the bears got high and the two bear twins died. When Padre died, the main mess started, and Azulin lost the little morals he had (killing and eating another bear, burning the forest after he killed other bears as lieutenant, killing his own brother because either he was jelous that he was leaving him to help a unicorn, because he was helping an unicorn, or in a simple outburst of rage because he wanted to have the last unicorn for himself i guess).

I still don't get too much the "symbols" and meanings behind the unicorns, Maria's mother, the monkey cult and stuff (which is probably a main thing everyone understood but me :D) but I wanna understand it so I'll probably go around and read other posts from people or stuff from the authors of the film to see if I get something.

[anthonybialy]

Josh Allen and His Employer

Fans rarely stop to think about just why they’re cheering.  It’s tough to step back in a one-score game while too tense to move.  I think they’re yelling for sports.  But what specifically?  We may like the competition, action, rules of certain events, particular teams, and certain individuals.  Figure it out after the game.

Noted sports observer Jerry Seinfeld pointed out watching games with a rooting interest is all about laundry.  We’re left to determine just what on the uniform we admire most.  Is it the logo or player name?  It’s certainly not the word “Fanatics”.

Clubs change over time.  Then again, so do humans.  As for Jerry’s pretend ex, Elaine Benes was exponentially more jaded in the last Seinfeld season than the first, so there’s always room to be more disappointed.

Certain fanbases enthusiastic about a particular option.  It may be called for, as when a franchise possesses a singular virtually superhuman threat.  You can’t call out Bills fans who are really Josh Allen fans, as he’s the whole reason they’re able to celebrate.  The quarterback who’s started exactly one-quarter of all the franchise’s playoff games ever has brought rare success to a franchise that’s rarely well done.  Why they wouldn’t seem most loyal to the person who’s enabling hopes and dreams?

Do they like the player more than the organization for which he plays?  Sports offer endless examples of just what is receiving lauds.  Admiring one athlete creates be a good excuse for revelry when someone other than a personally beloved faction raises a trophy.  Boston fans who were happy Tom Brady won with the Buccaneers are the same ones proud of Colorado champion Ray Bourque.  For Buffalo, such an outcome is a nightmare to avoid pondering.  The rather cruel imagined fear really happens to the Sabres every summer.  Evan Rodrigues winning a Stanley Cup is bad enough.

A genuine teammate does more than his share.  Allen is the most valuable player by the true definition.  The club’s savior is of greater importance to his team than any other player in football and perhaps pro sports.  It’s actually a slight against his teammates for how important he is.  It’s not their place to complain.

The difference between criticality and negativity is another life lesson brought to us by sports.  Followers should be willing to offer gentle feedback about their stupid teams crushing hopes.  Other fanbases should try telling their own sides why they suck.  Treating blind loyalty as the true measure of the category is for cravers of excessive stimulation who burn themselves on wing sauce.  Rabid praise enables cults, at least for a little bit.  More subtle thinkers are willing to criticize anything admired if warranted.  Sean McDermott offers a perfect example when he’s making frequent imperfect decisions.

A soft defense makes it hard to win.  Spot those who don’t watch closely by how they cite Buffalo’s terrific numbers without bothering to note the final tally.  Statistics don’t measure rising to situations.  You can tell who doesn’t watch by enthusiasm for an indifferent total that may or may not reflect the score.  It’s easy to look at yards allowed 

and not see just when they’re conceding points, namely at the worst possible moments.  The defense that shares a locker room with Allen has been reliable in their unreliability.

The goal of sports is to wage an unfair fight.  We’re not talking about breaking rules like the aforementioned New England defrauder.  Playing by the rules to create unfairness in your favor is the common trait amongst successful organizations.  Tilting the odds is reminiscent of Road Rash where your friend becomes your enemy following your acquisition of a chain that’s used to knock him off the road and into second place during a two-person race.  Allen is not finding enough weapons.  But that’s the fault of game developers, not the player.

Doing good things is better than bad.  I am on record.  The simplest notion is tricky in practice, as seen by how aggravating it is when those in position to do so act with nonchalance.  Frustration over shortcomings out of one’s control sums up supporting a team.

The front office should be doing everything they can to maximize a most uncommon opportunity.  The most obvious notion possible doesn’t mean that it’s happening.  Sufficient receiving options are a bit lower on the priority list than one would think for a team trying not to screw up what could either be glorious or the most crushing shortfall yet.

It’s still a team game even if the Bills seem to be playing tackle tennis.  The lack of a Super Bowl appearance in the Allen era offers a reminder of how even the player with by far the greatest impact still doesn’t singlehandedly decide results.  This offseason has featured smug Chiefs fans pointing out he hasn’t won a conference championship as they get another U.S.S. Flagg for Christmas.  A quarterback can’t do that on his own.  If it were possible, Allen would have.

Excessive praise only sounds like an exaggeration.  Allen deserves more no matter how much he’s gotten.  The policy is as easy as calling plays for him: suggest throwing or running for awhile and whoop when he does.  The person who’s changed a team’s fortunes should get as much adulation as disciples are capable of delivering.  Backing the Bills thanks them for bringing him to our attention.

[gumnut-logic]

Take Me Home

This is @tsarinatorment​ ‘s fault. She wrote this amazing fic where neither Gordon or Scott come out particularly well. Please read the warnings on that fic before reading.

Consequently, the Virgil in my head went completely apeshit and demanded to be heard.

So, here we have a sequel to @tsarinatorment​ ‘s fic where Virgil arrives on scene.

Thank you to both @tsarinatorment​ and @janetm74​ for the readthough and support.

No real warnings on this one. Scott and Gords haven’t had a good time and a lot of Virgil comfort was needed. I hope you enjoy it :D

-o-o-o-

The air burned as Thunderbird Two killed speed above Brize Norton, her presence forecast by an urgent Thunderbird Five.

Three words.

“We found him.”

It had been a week since Scott had disappeared from a night club in Italy. A business conference that his brother had both been loathing and anticipating. The former because of the smarmy hangers on, the second for the chance at a little nightlife.

Security was an issue. It was always an issue. But Kayo had been on it.

A bomb, three dead security guards, five dead civilians and a nightclub of terrified patrons had been the result.

How far someone would go to obtain a Tracy had been underestimated.

And Scott was gone.

Kayo went mad. Horrified and furious, she was inconsolable. She disappeared, the only proof of life a word or two from an equally apoplectic Penelope.

They would find him or die trying.

John wasn’t much better. His initial frantic was replaced with cold and calculated. Eos was everywhere.

But despite all that, despite the power and skill of the Tracy legacy, it still took five days to discover even an inkling of what had happened.

A cult. A bunch of fanatics who claimed Scott was a messiah or something.

Virgil stood in the lounge staring at Penelope’s lips as they explained that his brother was still missing and they still didn’t even know where to look.

By evening Gordon was gone as well.

It was Alan who discovered their aquanaut’s absence and if Virgil clung to his little brother just a little longer than was needed, his excuse was simply that he needed to do SOMETHING and if comfort was all he could give, then by god, he was going to give it.

Another two days. With half his family missing it was Grandma who kept him sane. Grounded him in a way no meagre hobby of use of his hands could do.

And then Aunt Val finally made the call.

“We found him.”

Thunderbird Two hit the ground with a thump. Eyes of GDF personnel stared up at her, but Virgil ignored them as he grabbed a medkit, lowered himself to the tarmac and ran.

Scott had been found.

It was with hope and a little dread that he followed the GDF aide into the depths of the building.

The dread increased as he was led to an office that clearly did not hold his brother. The desk and two chairs only emphasized the emptiness of the room.

The moment his godmother walked in, his heart plummeted.

“Where is he?”

Her eyes were kind. “Virgil, he’s safe. He’s with Gordon.”

“Gordon?”

Aunt Val looked away and sat down on the edge of the desk. “Yes, your brother was very…persistent in this matter.”

Virgil frowned. Gordon had worked with the GDF? “I would have thought that would be expected.” A breath. “Are they okay?”

Aunt Val looked back at him. “Yes. Though Scott is still unconscious. A harmless sedative according to scans. Gordon has him.”

“Then why am I here and not with them?” His fists clenched and unclenched.

She looked down at his gloved hands before again catching his eyes. “They will be here shortly.” A small frown crinkled her forehead. “Virgil…tread carefully.”

The words were meant kindly, but they only wound him up more. Where were his brothers?

Before he could say anything, the door behind him was nudged open and Gordon staggered in carrying their eldest brother.

Virgil didn’t think. He just acted.

“Oh god, Gordon!”

He moved in, reaching for them, only to have his little brother stagger backwards out of reach.

“Gordon?” The aquanaut was ever so pale, his face a little scratched as if he had been scrubbing it with his fingernails. The GDF uniform was baggy on him as if it didn’t quite fit properly. But it was his eyes that were the worst.

They were haunted.

“Gordy?”

His brother blinked as Scott’s head lolled against his shoulder. “Virg?”

Ever so gentle. “Hey, Fish.”

Gordon’s arms were trembling under his brother’s weight, his white knuckles clinging to the sickly grey of Scott’s uniform.

“Can I see him?” Virgil took a small step forward, his eyes on Scott.

Gordon blinked. “Sure.” But the aquanaut made no offer to come any closer.

“Do you want to sit down? Here…” Virgil grabbed one of the chairs and gestured Gordon to sit in it.

Virgil bit the inside of his cheek.

But Gordon slid into the chair and Virgil was thankful. His little brother was so pale…

But Scott…Virgil crouched down and reached into the medkit, grabbing the scanner. The flash of yellow startled Gordon and his eldest brother was drawn closer to the aquanaut. Regardless, the readouts started streaming back to the tablet in Virgil’s hand.

Oh, thank god.

It was as his godmother had said. Unconscious, but his vitals were good. Strong indicators of a familiar but mostly harmless sedative in his system. He may as well have been asleep.

Of course, Virgil would be happier if he were awake, but he was so grateful to be seeing him after so long, it knotted in his throat.

But he couldn’t let the relief flow just yet.

There was definitely something wrong with Gordon.

The yellow light flickered over his fish brother and he flinched again.

It was both a relief and a worry that only Gordon’s historic injuries registered. Inflammation was forming at the base of his spine, probably in reaction to the weight he was carrying. Scott was far from light. Virgil knew from experience. Gordon had the arms and the strength, but not the stability and it was likely adrenalin and desperation were a big player in the fact his little brother could still clutch Scott to his chest.

Virgil slipped the scanner and tablet back into the medkit and quietly dropped it to the floor.

Pulling off his gloves, he let them drop to the floor beside the kit.

Gordon’s eyes followed his every move.

A pause, and then holding his breath, Virgil reached out and lay a gentle hand on Gordon’s shoulder.

When his brother didn’t flinch away, he squeezed gently. “Let’s take him home.”

Gordon blinked at him, staring.

“Gordon?”

Another blink. “Yes. Virgil. Take him home.”

But his brother didn’t move.

Scott continued to breathe evenly against Gordon’s collar bone.

Virgil reached out and brushed a finger through Scott’s hair, both for himself and to gauge Gordon’s response.

His fish brother immediately drew Scott in tighter and away from Virgil.

The medic let a quiet breath out between his teeth.

He knew what this was. There were textbooks and diagnoses and he had encountered it in the field himself many times.

It hurt more when it was a brother.

Cautiously but determined, Virgil moved the hand on Gordon’s shoulder to the back of his neck and the bare skin there. Pressing warm palm to tense neck muscles, he leant in and touched his forehead to Gordon’s ever so softly.

Quiet. Loving. “He’s safe, Gords. You can let go. You’ve saved him.”

There was nothing at first, other than a fine tremble of muscles used past their limit.

Then…

“Virgil?” His name was little more than a sob.

“I’ve got you. You’re safe. Scott’s safe. We can go home.” A pause. He exhaled, relief in his voice. “We can go home.”

There was a strangled sound before Gordon once again went silent. But his head slipped slowly past Virgil’s to land on his shoulder.

A moment of hesitation, wary his brother might bolt, and Virgil slid his other arm around both Scott and his little brother.

There was no sound other than Scott’s even breathing.

Gordon continued to tremble.

Virgil sat there, giving his brother time. He didn’t know what had happened to either of them, but he did know it was bad and it hurt.

His heart ached for Gordon and feared what would happen when Scott awoke. What horrors had both of them witnessed? How badly were his brothers injured in ways no medical scanner could ever reveal?

If he clung a little to both of them, he felt he had enough reason.

But Gordon was obviously exhausted and Scott needed to go home. Scanner or no scanner, Virgil wouldn’t be happy until they were both safe on Tracy Island under the watchful eye of Grandma.

He pulled away slowly to find Gordon almost asleep and blinking up at him wearily.

Virgil caught those tired eyes. “Let me help you.” He slipped his arms under Scott and gently lifted him away from Gordon.

Gordon continued to stare blearily.

“C’mon, bro. Let’s go home.”

Scott’s head lolled on Virgil’s shoulder as the engineer pushed himself to his feet arms full of big brother. Big being the keyword.

Gordon blinked, looked at his empty lap and then back up at Virgil.

“I’ve got him, Gords.”

The aquanaut stared a moment longer before nodding once and getting to his feet. He reached down and grabbed the medkit and Virgil’s gloves as if an automaton.

Virgil eyed him a moment longer before turning towards the door.

The expression on Aunt Val’s face stopped him in his tracks.

Her eyes were wide, but he frowned at her and stopped her from saying anything.

A swallow and she held the door. They slipped through quietly.

Corridors and doors and finally the ever so welcome sight of his ‘bird.

Gordon walked beside him as Two lowered her hatch. Stepping aboard, Virgil turned and nodded at their godmother who had followed them out.

No words were necessary.

Gordon leant in and his head touched Virgil’s shoulder.

A moment and the hatch retrieved them into Two’s belly.

They were going home.

-o-o-o-

FIN.

[cameoamalthea]

Why the Moon Weaver Intervened

I’ve seen some speculation as to why Sehanine, the Moon Weaver personally intervened on Rumblecusp given that the gods did not intervene when Vecna was about to ascend or when the Cult of the Angel of Irons was about to free the Chained Oblivion. Why now? Why this?

Full disclosure, I’ve been stanning the Moon Weaver for months and think she’s awesome. So I may be biased, but I do not think her motivations are as petty as she’s angry someone impersonated her and tried to pull a prank on her, the goddess of trickery and pranks.  It’s more than that, this is someone tricking people into worshipping her. Yes, she is the goddess of trickery and pranks (among other things), however, she’s also a goddess of love and freedom.

Seize your own destiny by pursuing your passions.

Walk unbridled and untethered, forging new memories and experiences.

Let the shadows protect you from the burning light of fanatical good and the absolute darkness of evil.

She doesn’t want anyone to LOVE her because they were tricked into it and think she’s someone else. If someone chooses to follower her it cannot be a trick. It has to be with fully informed enthusiastic consent. She will not allow, cannot allow, anyone to trick people into worshipping her. It would be wrong.  Jester suggested it because she didn’t want anyone who needed a god to be stuck without one and thought oh, they can just switch gods and think it’s been the Moon Weaver the whole time. She gets followers. They get a god. Everyone is happy. 

Except, the Moon Weaver doesn’t want followers who were tricked or manipulated into loving her. Manipulating someone into a relationship with you is wrong. By pretending to be the Moon Weaver, Artagan also put her in a position where to those followers she was the Traveler. It’s not consensual if you’re tricked, if you think it’s someone else. She is not going to let him put her in a position where she’s vicariously violating their trust and consent. So she lays down the law, and lets them know that if anyone wants a relationship with her, she’s there for them and will never lie to those who love her.  

And I apologize if all this talk about consent makes this sound like ‘something else’. (I am against comparing anything that is not rape or sexual assault to rape or sexual assault. I will not throw around words like ‘grooming’ or approve of sexual predator metaphors applied to anything that’s not actually sexual predation. As a survivor, I believe that it is a particular kind of awful that should not be compared to anything else.)

 However, I believe fully that all morality is based on CONSENT. We talk about it terms of sexual morality, because it comes up since there are some who think sex is immoral based on things over than consent (marital status, sexual orientation, number of partners, kink, etc) and far too many who do not understand what consent means or that it’s important. 

However, consent is the basis of all morality. It’s the difference between a job and slavery, between a gift and theft, and yes, between sex and rape, but it’s more than that. It’s everything. Making anyone do anything, except in extreme circumstances (i.e. where it’s necessary to protect someone e.g. jailing dangerous criminals until rehabilitation, removing children from abusive families, getting someone who is harming themselves help), without their consent is wrong. That’s why Sehanine, the Moon Weaver, intervened. No one would be led to follow her without their fully informed consent. If they want her, she’s there for them, but it has to be their choice to make without any deception. 

[brujahinaskirt]

@missn11​ says:

Ask and ye shall receive, fellow neonate! <3 Bear with me, because I’m about to hammer out 2000 words very quickly...

This massive rant by its topic nature is sort of Nines-critical, so lemme start by saying that, in my own way, I love Rodriguez. (I was partially self-burning in the shitpost that ignited this rant because I SEVERELY exaggerated Nines’s canonical shadiness levels in my ancient fanfiction, and for no other reason than because I was a teenage edgelord. I am appropriately embarrassed, but only by my excess and melodrama, not by Troika’s characterization. I think the writing behind VTMB’s Nines is superb.)

When it comes to Bloodlines, I think he’s one of the most psychologically interesting profiles in the game. In fact, I could never get into LA by Night because they so de-toothed Troika’s vision of him. Not to say LA by Night’s Nines was a poorly-developed character in his own right, ‘cause he wasn’t at all, but “my” Nines will always be unapologetically and only Troika’s: boiling angry, viciously pragmatic, a survivor who doesn’t let anyone too close lest they see through him, whose over-the-top confident façade cracks a little more every time his back’s against the wall. Troika’s Nines is the epitome of greater VTM’s “fallen rebel” archetype, and even though we don’t get to see it on all playthoughs, that makes it even better and more believable.

But as with all characterization in Bloodlines, we have to read between the lines and between our own play styles a bit to piece the truth of the puzzle together...

Besides the direct evidence Troika gives us—i.e. the music cues, which are a bit overbearing if I’m honest (sorry, Troika! ilu); the absence of Nines in Rosa’s prophecy re: people you can trust; and the overt warnings Camarilla-aligned characters give us about him—the biggest red flag about Rodriguez, imo? It’s twofold:

the way the characters he surrounds himself with talk about him and the type of vampire he chooses to fill his den. Namely: Nines exclusively recruits angry, spurned, mistreated people who are younger and far less experienced than he is

those messy, ugly, fleeting moments where you see his toughguy everyman personality crack

So! Starting with point one:

THE PERSONALITY CULT ITSELF

We can’t deny that Nines does not surround himself with peers. He surrounds himself with followers—people who don’t challenge him in any way, who are fanatically loyal, who openly profess their worship of him and their conviction he could never/would never do anything wrong. If you listen to how Damsel and Skelter talk about him, it’s with frightening adulation, often repeating Nines’s lines word-for-word without truly understanding the argumentation behind them. (Damsel’s the main offender here with her “IT’S A PYRAMID SCHEME… it just makes sense, you know? It just makes sense!” And then, of course, she gets pissed and refuses to speak to you when you push her into elaborating.)

Nines has clearly made himself much more than just a friend-figure or a Sire-figure to them. He’s utterly and completely mythologized by the LA Anarchs, held up next to other politically mythologized names like George Washington and Ho Chi Minh. His followers love him… but there’s a pecking order, and like good body shields, they believe their lives don’t matter as much as he matters. And they love that, too. They want to die for Nines. They’re not just willing to or resigned to it; they’re eager to die. Damsel will volunteer this information the first time you meet her. She just can’t wait to prove herself by taking a bullet for goddamn Nines Rodriguez. It’s literally how she introduces herself to new people.

And yet Nines deliberately withholds his attention and time from his followers. He uses his attention as a reward, as incentive. He rations some care and reassurance and help—makes you feel good and gives you reason to crave his attention—and then he pushes you away, back into his adoring ranks until the next “two minutes” you earn from him in which you’re special enough for such an exceptional, important, cool guy to talk to. That’s a classic manipulation tactic, and a classic personality cult tell.

And Troika is so damn fuckin’ brilliant about it because they don’t stop at showing us that an Anarch-aligned fledgling might feel this way—no, they make the PLAYER also feel this way. On our first playthrough of Bloodlines, we’re desperate to talk to Nines. We want the reward. “Let me finish the plaguebearer quests… let me run to the Elizabeth Dane… I hope Nines talks to me again now! Quick, to the Last Round! Maybe if I say the right thing to make him like me, he’ll give me another free EXPERIENCE POINT!” (iirc he’s one of two characters who will do so, and the only one who gives multiple points.)

But at the end of the day, Nines is indisputably the leader of the Anarchs, and even fledgling figures that out. (“Sounds like you’re the Prince of the Anarchs.”) He’s very much the Baron of Downtown LA, even if he won’t use that language. As for the grating day-to-day management and leadership stuff that might make him somewhat unpopular among the Anarchs, though? He fobs all that stuff off on Damsel!

Damsel, his Minion No. 1—whom a lot of players will hate on their early playthroughs, because she assigns tough missions with little to no reward. Damsel, who has no real power role in the Anarchs and functions only to serve Nines. You help Damsel, and you do Nines’s work—i.e. you do the work of the Barony of LA—and he doesn’t even have to take the admiration hit by having to ask you himself.

There’s only one non-follower of note around Nines. It’s Jack, and by his own words, he’s not one of Nines’s people; he disparages them, in fact. And we’ll notice that Jack—who is stronger, older, and wiser than Nines—very much doesn’t talk about Nines the same way Nines’s followers do. While Jack doesn’t directly insult him and occasionally defends him, Jack also has a downright shocking response to the announcement of the Blood Hunt. When fledgling desperately asks what they can do to help Nines—Jack says, word-for-word: I could give a damn.

Something ain’t quite right about this place.

Moving right along:

NINES IS A FAKE ALPHA MALE WHO KNOWS HE’S GOING TO DIE

Part of why Nines is so attractive to someone scared and weak like our fledgling (or Skelter or Damsel) is that he seems utterly fucking untouchable—like nothing scares him, and that must be reassuring when two of your age-old enemies are moving into town. But Nines’s tough, cool, Devil-may-care persona outs itself as a protective shell, too… and this is another thing I think Troika handled so subtly and so well.

You’ll notice that even Nines’s voice is dramatically different in a couple different situations: when Ming Xiao is borrowing his body, when he’s afraid, and when he’s distracted or deeply disturbed. (A successful Malkavian mind read will really slam a crack in his coolguy persona. For a second, the nonchalance shatters and he childishly screams SHUT UP!)

But whether you Malk him or not: In those isolated moments, the Coolguy Nines Rodriguez we normally see frays. Physically, even! His accent loses its burr (that ballsy rural American everyman accent), shoots up to a higher register—and reveals a much softer voice than the one he uses in front of other people. No wonder; part of Nines’s charisma comes from his performance of masculine confidence, and even if it’s not a toxically patriarchal masculinity in the way we often picture it, the fact this performance cracks at all shows it’s not his genuine self. He’s acting. In the way a lot of toughguy men do—but for Nines, whose survival depends upon attraction now, he’s acting toughguy for his very life.

I think those little fray-under-pressure moments are the “real” Nines, or as close as we’re going to get: scared, desperate, worn-down, and very aware of his doom.

Now, all that said…

BLATANT FALLEN REBEL CONCEPT APOLOGISM

I don’t think we can quite throw Rodriguez into the same Mean Monster Morality Dungeon for Evil Vampires as other Big Bads in LA. This is where motivation comes into play, at least for me. We know Nines can be merciless and violent, and he doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice his own soldiers (namely, um, US!) to protect his holdings. But he does seem to have a twinge of genuine anger over injustices wrought upon “little people” (look no further than Nocturne)—one that seems like it stems from a sense of right v. wrong rather than sheer pragmatism. This stands in stark opposition to the rationed pacificism of characters like LaCroix, who simply doesn’t want the headache of cleaning up a pile of dead humans on his nightly to-do list.

Nines also, of course, just doesn’t have the same kind of disaster reach other Bloodlines Big Bads do in how much harm he can cause. When LaCroix gets up to some bullshit, he crashes the national economy. Nines, like, crashes a car into a corporate office window or takes over a street or something. Can’t really compare the two when it comes to the scale of damage done.

And even Nines Rodriguez is, for all his strategy, still an honestly angry person. Not all of him is fake—what’s troubling about him is what he’s willing to sacrifice and do to satiate his anger-passion. It’s the standard Brujah emotional-moral struggle. Even though I agree with much of what he says about bloodsucking late capitalist vampires (tbh he seems to hate vampires in general!), one wonders if it’s not partially the anger-passion that’s warped him into the façade of a noble leader he’s become. It’s not a pure anger anymore; he’s weaponized it in selfish, unhealthy, destructive ways.

But if he’s a fallen rebel—and since he is still apparently capable of some genuine anger and sadness—then we can infer he wasn’t always like this. He fell, and narratively, that’s key to understanding Clan Brujah. Maybe he fell in a way all of us angry rebel-types risk falling if we let our hatred of the bloodsuckers in real life outgrow and consume our care for the real-world little people.

I think we also have to appreciate that—as far as we know—the shady shit Nines does, he primarily does to prolong his power. But for a threatened Anarch like Nines, power doesn’t mean expansion or accumulation as it might for an ascending Ventrue; it primarily means survival. The Camarilla and Kuei-jin incursions into LA have numbered his days, and he can’t possibly have any delusions about this, no matter how much he swaggers. So he does what he can do with the skills and limited resources he has. He corrupts vulnerable, angry, abused people by giving them the appearance of friendship, family, and hope they can become stronger—much like effective gang leaders do.

If he’s morally nastier than other power-players like LaCroix in some way, imo, it’s here. It’s the intimacy with which he manipulates the people around him. LaCroix may lie to you; Strauss may withhold information from you; Ming Xiao may double-cross you. But none of them ask that you love them. That’s not their goal; that’s not how they operate. None of them expect or encourage anyone to happily die for them of their own free will. If they get you killed, you’ll die resenting them—resenting that you had to die, at all.

But when you die for people like Nines Rodriguez, you do it willingly, if only because you believed he cared somehow and that he’d fight tooth-and-nail for you, too. You believed that you were a member of his little outcast family—or that you would be, if you just proved yourself a little bit more. If you just fought a little harder. If you were just a little happier about having the chance to die for the cause. Maybe if you die for Nines, then Nines will love you, too.

I don’t think he does. I don’t think he will. If he’s a true fallen rebel archetype, I don’t know if he can anymore.

That’s enough Anarchs for now! I’m gonna peace out with some copy/pasted lyrics from the theme song of Nines’s den: the ballad of the charming and vengeful Lecher Bitch. Stay sharp, my little Bloodlines fanatics!

Tell me your story Don't worry, I've been there Crown me your savior Don't worry, I'll be there

[Chorus] I said hey You're coming all the way I've got some hell to pay I'm diggin' all the way All the way down I said hey You're coming all the way I've got some hell to pay Gonna rip you every way On the way down again [Bridge] Don't belong lording above me Won't be hard to pull you underground It won't be long 'til you love me And I'll be coming at your back To break it down

[troybeecham]

Today the Church remembers St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Monk.

Ora pro nobis.

St. Bernard de Clairvaux, (born 1090 AD, probably Fontaine-les-Dijon, near Dijon, Burgundy [France]—died August 20, 1153 AD, Clairvaux, Champagne; canonized January 18, 1174; feast day August 20), was a Cistercian monk and mystic, the founder and abbot of the abbey of Clairvaux, and one of the most influential churchmen of his time.

Born of Burgundian landowning aristocracy, Bernard grew up in a family of five brothers and one sister. The familial atmosphere engendered in him a deep respect for mercy, justice, and loyal affection for others. Faith and morals were taken seriously, but without priggishness. Both his parents were exceptional models of virtue. It is said that his mother, Aleth, exerted a virtuous influence upon Bernard only second to what Monica had done for Augustine of Hippo in the 5th century. Her death, in 1107, so affected Bernard that he claimed that this is when his “long path to complete conversion” began.

He turned away from his literary education, begun at the school at Châtillon-sur-Seine, and from ecclesiastical advancement, toward a life of renunciation and solitude. Bernard sought the counsel of the abbot of Cîteaux, Stephen Harding, and decided to enter this struggling, small, new community that had been established by Robert of Molesmes in 1098 as an effort to restore Benedictinism to a more primitive and austere pattern of life. Bernard took his time in terminating his domestic affairs and in persuading his brothers and some 25 companions to join him. He entered the Cîteaux community in 1112, and from then until 1115 he cultivated his spiritual and theological studies.

Bernard’s struggles with the flesh during this period may account for his early and rather consistent penchant for physical austerities. He was plagued most of his life by impaired health, which took the form of anemia, migraine, gastritis, hypertension, and an atrophied sense of taste.

Founder And Abbot Of Clairvaux

In 1115 Stephen Harding appointed him to lead a small group of monks to establish a monastery at Clairvaux, on the borders of Burgundy and Champagne. Four brothers, an uncle, two cousins, an architect, and two seasoned monks under the leadership of Bernard endured extreme deprivations for well over a decade before Clairvaux was self-sufficient. Meanwhile, as Bernard’s health worsened, his spirituality deepened. Under pressure from his ecclesiastical superiors and his friends, notably the bishop and scholar William of Champeaux, he retired to a hut near the monastery and to the discipline of a quack physician. It was here that his first writings evolved. They are characterized by repetition of references to the Church Fathers and by the use of analogues, etymologies, alliterations, and biblical symbols, and they are imbued with resonance and poetic genius. It was here, also, that he produced a small but complete treatise on Mariology (study of doctrines and dogmas concerning the Virgin Mary), “Praises of the Virgin Mother.” Bernard was to become a major champion of a moderate cult of the Virgin, though he did not support the notion of Mary’s immaculate conception.

By 1119 the Cistercians had a charter approved by Pope Calixtus II for nine abbeys under the primacy of the abbot of Cîteaux. Bernard struggled and learned to live with the inevitable tension created by his desire to serve others in charity through obedience and his desire to cultivate his inner life by remaining in his monastic enclosure. His more than 300 letters and sermons manifest his quest to combine a mystical life of absorption in God with his friendship for those in misery and his concern for the faithful execution of responsibilities as a guardian of the life of the church.

It was a time when Bernard was experiencing what he apprehended as the divine in a mystical and intuitive manner. He could claim a form of higher knowledge that is the complement and fruition of faith and that reaches completion in prayer and contemplation. He could also commune with nature and say:

Believe me, for I know, you will find something far greater in the woods than in books. Stones and trees will teach you that which you cannot learn from the masters.

After writing a eulogy for the new military order of the Knights Templar he would write about the fundamentals of the Christian’s spiritual life, namely, the contemplation and imitation of Christ, which he expressed in his sermons “The Steps of Humility” and “The Love of God.”

Pillar Of The Church

The mature and most active phase of Bernard’s career occurred between 1130 and 1145. In these years both Clairvaux and Rome, the centre of gravity of medieval Christendom, focussed upon Bernard. Mediator and counsellor for several civil and ecclesiastical councils and for theological debates during seven years of papal disunity, he nevertheless found time to produce an extensive number of sermons on the Song of Solomon. As the confidant of five popes, he considered it his role to assist in healing the church of wounds inflicted by the antipopes (those elected pope contrary to prevailing clerical procedures), to oppose the rationalistic influence of the greatest and most popular dialectician of the age, Peter Abelard, and to cultivate the friendship of the greatest churchmen of the time. He could also rebuke a pope, as he did in his letter to Innocent II:

There is but one opinion among all the faithful shepherds among us, namely, that justice is vanishing in the Church, that the power of the keys is gone, that episcopal authority is altogether turning rotten while not a bishop is able to avenge the wrongs done to God, nor is allowed to punish any misdeeds whatever, not even in his own diocese (parochia). And the cause of this they put down to you and the Roman Court.

Bernard’s confrontations with Abelard ended in inevitable opposition because of their significant differences of temperament and attitudes. In contrast with the tradition of “silent opposition” by those of the school of monastic spirituality, Bernard vigorously denounced dialectical Scholasticism as degrading God’s mysteries, as one technique among others, though tending to exalt itself above the alleged limits of faith. One seeks God by learning to live in a school of charity and not through “scandalous curiosity,” he held. “We search in a worthier manner, we discover with greater facility through prayer than through disputation.” Possession of love is the first condition of the knowledge of God. However, Bernard finally claimed a victory over Abelard, not because of skill or cogency in argument but because of his homiletical denunciation and his favoured position with the bishops and the papacy.

Pope Eugenius III and King Louis VII of France induced Bernard to promote the cause of a Second Crusade (1147–49) to quell the prospect of a great Muslim surge engulfing both Latin and Greek Orthodox Christians. The Crusade ended in failure because of Bernard’s inability to account for the quarrelsome nature of politics, peoples, dynasties, and adventurers. He was an idealist with the ascetic ideals of Cîteaux grafted upon those of his father’s knightly tradition and his mother’s piety, who read into the hearts of the Crusaders—many of whom were bloodthirsty fanatics—his own integrity of motive.

In his remaining years he participated in the condemnation of Gilbert de La Porrée—a scholarly dialectician and bishop of Poitiers who held that Christ’s divine nature was only a human concept. He exhorted Pope Eugenius to stress his role as spiritual leader of the church over his role as leader of a great temporal power, and he was a major figure in church councils. His greatest literary endeavour, “Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles,” was written during this active time. It revealed his teaching, often described as “sweet as honey,” as in his later title doctor mellifluus. It was a love song supreme: “The Father is never fully known if He is not loved perfectly.” Add to this one of Bernard’s favourite prayers, “Whence arises the love of God? From God. And what is the measure of this love? To love without measure,” and one has a key to his doctrine.

St. Bernard was declared a doctor of the church in 1830 and was extolled in 1953 as doctor mellifluus in an encyclical of Pius XII.

O God, by whose grace your servant Bernard, kindled with the flame of your love, became a burning and a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

[dailycharacteroption]

Class Feature Friday: Devastator Connection (Mystic Connection)

 One thing that everything, matter and energy alike share is that eventually, all will fall silent or be destroyed. Matter breaks down, heat dissipates into meaningless entropy, and of course, lives end.

It is that common thread that the mystics of today’s subject find solace in, and more often than not, wish to accelerate. They find no value in substance and creativity, only in the blank finality of the void.

As you might imagine, this connection is favored most of all by The Devourer, though any god of entropy, destruction, and nihilism also finds at least some value in it.

That being said, while most are, not every devastator mystic has to be a destructive nihilist. Some may simply wish to use that power against their enemies. Regardless, however, their ability to bring about ruin cannot be underestimated.

 The spells associated with this connection make it quite adept at causing destruction, doing things such as transforming one’s mouth into a fanged maw, corroding a foe with acid, cause a wave of violence to spread through the recently slain, bolts that drain life, generating crushing force around a foe’s skull, or even conjuring miniature gravitational singularities.

As the practitioners of this path slay foes in combat, they can mark themselves, incurring a blessing from the fell forces they represent, bolstering themselves in various ways against foes of a similar type to the foe that warranted the mark.

By burning magical energy, these mystics can infuse themselves with fury to enter a battle frenzy. The more magic they expend, the more dangerous they become.

With an expenditure of resolve, they can even empower a weapon with the potential to leave behind maiming wounds.

Additionally, they can also reduce the protections that a foe normally enjoys so that their attacks have more effect.

Later on, these priests of destruction can use a second blood mark that is more potent, allowing them to be blessed against two types of foes at once or especially potently against one. They can even mark allies that they are mind to mind with thanks to mystical telepathy.

Bloodshed reinvigorates these nihilists, and both they and those they have bonded with can draw upon greater reserves of stamina when they bring a foe low.

The most powerful devastators, however, can channel raw destruction to unleash a devastating pulse from their bodies, rending foes and shattering the terrain around them.

This connection is an extremely aggressive one that rewards you for slaying many foes in a single combat, gaining blood marks to further bolster your efforts. The ability to add wounding to a weapon and enter a battle-rage also means you are assumed to also be attacking with weapons, not just with spells. As such I’d recommend a mixed buffing and damaging build.

 This connection is definitely not a typical heroic one, or even a protagonist one for that matter, if only because nihilism doesn’t lend itself well to characters with motives beyond “more nihilism.” As such, you probably won’t see it used a lot unless the mystic in question “uses” the connection instead of “worships” it.

  Visitors at an polar resort have been going missing, and the culprit is a kalo cult leader that promises “peace through abyssal emptiness”. Someone has to put a stop to the malicious fanatic, and the party is the right group for the job!

 Something terrible has happened at Kovos-9, a colony on an icy world. Something has violently transmuted all organic matter in the compound into crystalline structures, leaving nothing but confused wingbot assistants and scouts. Investigating the place will reveal rock-encrusted undead and signs of cult activity.

 Infamous for destroying entire buildings, studious bounty hunters might be surprised to learn that Drovassa of Ruin’s body count is exceptionally low, as she seems to revel in destruction, not necessarily death.

[askmalal]

This is massively overdue for the very kind Rampant Goat, and I apologize for that...

Rampant Goat asks,  “You've got the sons of malice like but could you see a loyal marine (or marines) falling to you. How do you see that journey?”

Absolutely. Let’s look at this from an outsider’s viewpoint, ignoring any hyperbole on my part, or the part of my corporeal vessel.

A loyal Marine who is convinced to betray Terra could do so for innumerable reasons. Let's look at what the Dark Gods offer a Marine who could be lured into darkness?

- They could play upon the natural sadism of the sociopaths and psychopaths who inevitably make their way into the service. This is a problem universal to armies in every period of history. So, it's not hard to see a Marine with those tendencies drawn to Khorne or Slaanesh.

- The intellectual Marine, the ambitious Librarian, the martinet of an officer, could find some appeal in Tzeentch and the possibility of increasing one's prowess as a psyker or simply by increasing one's personal power, period. Definitely appeals to the megalomaniacal.

- The Marine with a taste for pleasures normally denied him, the Marine who suffers from PTSD and desperately wants to escape his reality, could certainly be lured by Slaanesh.

- Nurgle's a hard one, and I think his followers are usually depicted in fluff as being drawn to him out of desperation. The Death Guard fall to Nurgle not so much because of the machinations of Typhus but because, becalmed in the Warp, utterly without hope, they call out, and Nurgle answers...

And what of Malal?

Malal has classically been depicted as the God of Antipathy, Revolution, Violent Change. Some of the traits we now associate with Chaos Undivided began associated with -him-. So, it could be argued that, from an outsider's viewpoint, Malal is closest of the Dark Gods to "actual" Chaos. That, then, could appeal to a Marine with a sadistic streak.

But what about the rest of it? There are tens of thousands, perhaps millions, of Renegade Astartes. They were present before the Horus Heresy, they were present during, they remain in M42. They were drawn away from the Legions, and later the Chapters, for a variety of reasons. Desertion, mutiny, disagreements with Chapter/Legion command, exile (self-imposed or otherwise.)

What draws a man to become a Renegade? Often it's because that Marine is utterly disgruntled with the path his life has taken. And while that may be due to his being separated from his loved ones or way of life, it seems even more likely that he is disgruntled because of moral indignation at what the Imperium expects of him. The Scourged are an excellent example of this: a group of basically good men constantly co-opted by the Inquisition to do its dirty work who, after killing too many innocent people, call out for guidance from the Emperor. The Emperor doesn't answer as quickly as they'd like. Tzeentch does.

Or what about the Red Corsairs? Here are Astartes who believed that the Imperium had become too heavy handed in its levies of men and material, the Inquisition too powerful, within the worlds they were supposed to protect. Huron Blackheart becomes corrupted by Chaos out of desperation, because he sees the darkness at the heart of the Imperium, and in essence, ironically becomes that darkness.

Night Lords? Okay, did some terrible things, granted. Can't forget that. But here are Legionaries who are created to do a specific, necessary, but utterly reprehensible thing. Do they receive support from the Imperium? Does the Emperor help Curze navigate his psychic powers, does he help him to manage his mental instability? No. They're treated like monsters, and that's exactly what they become.

Malal appeals to the revolutionary aspect of what are essentially decent people. He says to them, "come, follow me, and break your chains." He gives them freedom, choice, agency. He doesn't expect fanatical cults. He doesn't demand constant sacrifices. He expects chaos. He wants disruption. Disorder. Violent social change. In the early comics, Kaleb Daark is charged with killing the agents of the other Chaos Gods because those Gods have become corrupt and unchanging things, an anathaema to the concept of Primordial Chaos. Daark kills blood-crazed madmen, slavers, plague cultists. He isn't so interested in massacring villages of innocent people who get in his way. And his very calling by Malal is a result of his desire for revenge.

What I'm trying to say, in a very rambling way, is this.

Khorne offers sadists their chance to spill blood.

Nurgle offers protection from disease and a sense of belonging.

Slaanesh offers carnal pleasures and vices to those who seek sensory overload.

Tzeentch offers whispers of power and arcane secrets.

Malal offers choice, agency, and the simple instruction to go forth in his name and burn it all down...

That appeals to me, as a writer. Malal takes the very idealism that draws so many people to join an army and twists it to his own purpose. "Go forth, liberate the slave, arm the downtrodden, ferment chaos in my name. Everything will burn. And you will bring my plans to fruition."

As for non-Marines? If you're a slave, a victim of abuse, a desperate peasant, a common conscript, what do the Dark Gods offer you aside from sensory overload? Why would you sacrifice your mind and free will to be someone's personal sex toy? To lose your life in a pointless bayonet charge? To learn secrets that only lead to more secrets and drive yourself mad in the process? To become infected with an incurable and repugnant disease that will not kill you but mark you out as a hideous monster? How does that appeal to an oppressed person? Malal has that appeal, and I think it unfortunate that we don't see those aspects played upon more directly by capable writers.

Thank you for your amazing question, little goat-mortal. And I apologize for my delayed, somewhat rambling, response. @rampantgoat

[novicetypewriter]

Religion: what it is supposed to be and what we have made it

Religion is supposed to be an intimate guide of a person, extremely personal and beyond the reaches of anyone else than the person itself. This would’ve been my ideal judgment of the affair had it been similar to its definition in real world.

A religion expresses a person’s ideal code of conduct as an individual and a part of the society. It shapes the conscience, morality, conduct and lifestyle of any person. We have tons of religions in our world that means we have tons of codes of conduct which may be complacent or conflicting with one another. This also means that we as humans have an inalienable choice to make, of either choosing any religion or none at all. It should not be of anyone’s concern as to why a person is following that religion and not mine; hello…it’s none of your business because it is what that person feels is right for them.

My own opinion is that this whole complex tangle of religion is abhorrent. As mentioned earlier, there are so many religions that are out there, mostly with conflicting views, or so it seems pragmatically. This leads to hatred among the followers of somewhat “polar” religions (mind it, they may not be polar in their ideals but have been made so by most of the preachers) and then, follows a race of establishing superiority of one over the other. I think most of the conflicts in the world, particularly in the Middle East and South Asia, definitely have an attribute of religion too, that keeps the fire burning. This also brings me to my conjectural conclusion that conflicts over religion mostly occur in places where at least one religion has its origin at.

I absolutely have no interest in discussing religion because I consider myself an atheist. But it disturbs me listening to instances of violent, communal riots, especially in my country which is a fucking developing country and all people talk about is this smallest aspect of one’s fucking personal life. This has a lot of reasons such as illiteracy among the citizens (especially, men; I will justify this later), obsolete yet unconditional love towards the religious preachers (not the religion, but the preachers because as it turns out people assume that they connect with them and the preachers teach the ideals, which is mostly not the case), and the most powerful of all, ‘people in power struggling to make religion a public issue and shamelessly declaring their religious identity in space and slandering other religions’. There are a lot of other reasons too, but these are issues I consider are at the forefront of them.

In most of the cases, the conflicts are seen in the developing world that is struggling to develop using available resources. And since, these countries comprise a huge share of illiterate population, there are certain popular arguments which are used against minority groups. One of them is xenophobia. The minority groups are often of foreign origin or from regions in the peripheral areas. The majority (that, mostly, comprise the native religion) feels this unjustifiable superiority complex that they are the sole inheritors of the land they live in. This theory itself reflects roots of illiteracy because these are given by people who are struggling in the country, and who hence, may not be having access to better education. To further bring the perspective of feminism in this argument, we need to know the fact that the modern religions (and this time it is the ideal concept of almost all the religions, besides the accentuation by the preachers) have their origins in a society dominated by men. The modern religions are simply anti-paganistic; be it Christianity, Islam or Hinduism. Each and every religious epic was written by men, with men protagonists and addressing men solely. Women were just represented symbolically, and that too reinforcing the fucking ideas of fragility, subordinance, and for the pleasure of men protagonists. It is very rare to see strong women in these epics as compared to zillions of men counterparts and that too probably, just to satisfy feminists. But guess what: this is not helping feminism even a bit. Firstly, men think that the women gods are superior to real women in the world, thus having an unanticipated effect; those gods are majestic which women in real world are not, logically, yes fuckers, because this is real world and that’s why they are fantasies. Secondly, a more direct consequence of the representation of women as fragile and delicate creatures in these epics has made men to believe that women NEED men to protect them and that their honor is central to men’s honor and courage. This really pisses me off because again fuckers, those epics are fantasies, women in the modern world are not those women, you are really backward, women know how to protect their own honor, they do not give a fuck about your honor and you are the ones we need protection against, so won’t it be a simple task to control your testosterones and remain within your boundaries. If we compare men and women living in exactly the same conditions except for their genders, women are much more aware of this fact and they do not need men to interfere in their affairs; they are being toxic. For example, in India, honor killings are a widespread practice in some of the rural areas. It arises when a woman marries a man, consensually, but the family of woman thinks that the man trapped her. Unsurprisingly, this would not have been a problem if the man belonged to the same religion or caste as the woman. It becomes a problem if the man is of an alien religion, mostly a Muslim, or of a lower caste. Then the family, without asking the woman for her fucking conviction, goes on to kill the man through mob-lynching and surprisingly, the woman is killed too because she was being difficult and rebellious. And mind it that things never even reach to this point; even if the woman is seen with a man of the same kind as mentioned above, the man will be lynched and woman confined to the house. Rumors are spread that a woman of one religion was raped by the man of another religion and the man is lynched. In the backdrop of all of this, is the man’s political dream of being masculine as preached by their religion; but YOU ARE BEING FUCKING LEECHES ON WOMEN AND WE DON’T LIKE IT, SO FUCK OFF AND DIE SOMEWHERE FAR.

The second important issue is the personality cult around the priests and preachers of different religions. People are illusioned in front of these “mystical” leaders who know this fact and use this to facilitate hatred among religions. When I wrote about the feministic problems earlier, it must be noted that the men with those toxic beliefs are disciples of these preachers. So, ultimately, the preachers are the overlords. They just need to speak a word slandering any other religion and this rat race of disciples start to run behind it. These preachers are in no way propagating religion and they have absolutely no idea what a religion is. They are bestowed upon the responsibility of interpreting the religious texts in accordance to present context and try to accommodate different religious ideologies so as to attain overall peace and harmony. This is exactly what a religion should do- peace and harmony. But this may come as a surprise to almost everybody, as this is not what religion in the real world means. It more likely to be a phenonmenon upheld by a group of fanatics, radicals, bloody orthodox terrorists. That’s what a religion is today. (again this is a general idea; there are many people within these religions who are against this mainstream approach, including some priests too)

Any sensible person will not believe wholly in any one religion; rather they would consolidate the good virtues of all religions and create their own personal religion. Every other insane person will be wholly devoted to a particular religion and act as a robot in the hands of fanatic overlords.

The last yet the most worrying issue is the knowledge of the religion of people in power and their open declaration about it. Democracy is supposed to be a consolidating force and the people in power should be symbols of this consolidation. This means that they need to suppress their personal opinions and act as an absolutely neutral person. But guess what threatens this argument: the people in power being more personal than public and in the worst case, BLOODY PREACHERS BEING BROUGHT TO POWER. Can you believe this? The fundamentals of secularism, fraternity, liberty, freedom, equality, and every other political principle being endangered by giving the power in the hands of these people. This scenario is an extensive combination of all the other issues I have mentioned in this article; think about it. And this is the only reason my country is observing so many riots, communal clashes, police brutality, women objectification, and loss of hundreds of thousands of innocents lives every fucking year.

This is my take on religion and again, I personally do not give a fuck about religion. But those who do, please know what a religion is supposed to be and what we have made it. (and for those leeches, get your act straight otherwise you are the ones who’ll need protection; FUCK YOU AND YOUR FUCKING DIRTY LIVES.)

[helihi]

The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty: Spop season 5

I’ve stopped screaming, and I took the time to rewatch season 5 with my little brother. So, here are my thoughts:

The Good

Horde Prime - The cult™ : I really dig the aesthetics, that combo of religious fanatics + fascism hit good. The crew did a good job at portraying Horde Prime as the ultimate villain of the show. He was engaging to watch and his ideology was pretty clear. The way they played with the hive mind concept was really fun, and it was Horde Prime’s biggest strength. He was also a very good manipulator, successfully playing with Glimmer and Adora. He was unsuccessful with Catra because she had already hit her lowest point.

Entrapta: honestly, she was the most hilarious character this season. Not only was she engaging to watch and listen to, I felt really connected to her this season. The fight with Mermista hit really good and it hurt, but you could see her trying her best. I love how open she is and how accepting of everyone and everything. I’m glad we got to see so much of her this season.

Scorpia: baby, she only deserves good things in life. When she got mind control, you could see how fucking powerful she is, but luckily for us, we got to see her shine independently before that. Her interactions with Swift Wind, Perfuma, and Double Trouble made her shine. She’s smart, talented, and without an evil bone in her body. I’m happy she can move on from Catra and find love and friendship. (I hope she reconnects with Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle in the future too)

Mermista: babe, you were always mood. She has been consistently funny, her get ups and plans are so entertaining to watch, but also: her relationship with Sea Hawk is great! They are definitely made for each other. I’m sad she was mine controlled for the other half of the season, but I’m happy we got to see a lot of her before. (Also she burned someone’s ship OMG GANGSTER SUIT)

Sea Hawk: happy to see him back. He was funny as always, and I’m happy he got his moment with Mermista at the end. 

Perfuma: “ADORA, WHAT DO YOU HAVE THERE?” “A TANK” “NO!” Her relationship with Scorpia is so good! I wish we could’ve seen more.

Netossa: I was one of those who was sad to know the 2 canon lesbians of the show were just background characters. I am so incredibly happy to see her shine this season! SHE SAID MY WIFE. She is the queen of the roasts and I stan.

Spinnerella: Dude, I didn’t know you were this powerful what the fuck. Also, your wife is super cute and she draws like Noelle.

Emotional Support Cat: Bro, I love Melog’s design. I think it was a really clever way to have Catra express her feelings and process them out loud for the audience by giving Catra a supernatural cat.

New She-ra design: I see the subtle reference to Bow, Glimmer and Catra in the design. Honestly, Adora looks 100% more badass.

Not Hordak: I really wish he had picked a name from himself. Aside from Entrapta, this might be the other hilarious character of the season. He goes through his individualization process in a healthier way than Hordak and showcases that the clones can be different from Horde Prime and rehabilitated. I wonder how he will feel about Hordak? But we got no epilogue so idk I guess.

Darla: I can’t believe they named the ship, but I love it.

The Best Friends Squad: I swear to god, when Bow, then Glimmer and then Catra interrupted Adora’s train of thought, I knew we were going to have a great dynamic. The way their characters play of each other is hilarious. Bow, who usually has the only braincell, is cautious and a total dad; Adora is the dumb jock with the heart of gold that gets herself into trouble; Glimmer is the chaotic enchantress with no patience; and finally Catra who’s got all her walls up, but gets shit done. I want a show of them together going on misions and almost dying in the process, thank you.

Catra Redemption: You wanted it, and here you have it! I was cheering for Catra this whole season while proclaiming I’d die for her (which I had only reserved for Scopia previously). Though things may be a little rushed, Catra takes her time to process things, and goes back and forth a couple of times. She deflects, lies, and runs away, but in the end she opens up and rushes back.

In general, the season was packed with content. I was never bored through any episodes and I honestly laughed outloud while watching it alone and later with my brother. There were moments when we paused the episode to discuss what had just happened or to process new information. This makes me feel even more weird about the bland season 2/3 division.

The Bad

Okay so, let me make this clear: I will never attack a ship or anyone who supports it. In this blog we multiship like adults and respect other people’s OTPs.

That being said, while this season was long and packed with content, it also felt rushed when it came to the relationships of the main cast

Glimmer - Catra: The prison episodes had barely any interactions between both of them. I wish they’ve had had more time to talk and to connect. There were Glitra moments that make me feel happy, and my brother was for a moment convinced that they could be canon. They are foils of each other after season 4. The conversation they had, where they realize they had a lot of things in common could’ve been a catalyst for both of them to grow and heal. However, Catra has her change of heart really soon and saves Glimmer, which prevents any deep interactions between them in the future. Aside from the jokes, Catra must be with Adora, and Glimmer must be with Bow, so everything else gets dropped.

Glimmer - Adora: The conflict between them after Angela’s “death” was one of the main plot points of last season. When they reunite again, their issues are solved in a couple of minutes and then brushed off. They really don’t have big interactions after that, which feels completely OOC and empty.

Glimmer - Bow: I wasn’t the only one who felt the sharp turn of their relationship. In previous seasons, it was really platonic, but as soon as they see each other again you know they are going to end up together. The camera zoomed on them, Bow was always holding her protectively, the way they looked at each other change. Since Glimmer is not allowed to have intimate moments with anyone else, it kinda dulls everything up. Don’t get me wrong, I love some best friends to lovers, but in this case it felt rushed for me. If I pinpoint the moment things turned romantic for them, it’s the first time they interact in person this season. It didn’t feel organic (contrast with a ship like Korrasami, where you can point at the moment Asami realized she had feelings for Korra, and then later when Korra’s attitude towards Asami changes after the time skip).

Adora - Catra: Honey, we all knew this was going to be end game, and I love the fact that Catra is dealing with her feelings and Adora acknowledges that. However, after the end of season 3, I’d have expected things to progress a little slower. Catra did put some resistance with the chip scene, but even afterwards, what would’ve been better paced with more episodes, was condensed in a few. Don’t get me wrong. I love that Catra redemption, but I’d have loved a better pacing.

BTW for anyone interested: I ship Glitradora, so any of the 3 ships ending up canon were good for me, and I liked Bow/Glimmer, just preferred them as bffs.

There’s a list of characters that barely show up that could’ve had more screentime:

Huntara: barely appears at all. She’s seen fighting, but there are no references to her or a storyline with her.

Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle: briefly shown. The gay couple of the century have adopted the baby demon and are now the best dads in the desert. Lonnie is their braincell.

Double Trouble: at least they had a scene and lines, but I feel like they could’ve been more involved after they were discovered by Scopria, especially since they escaped with Sea Hawk and Perfuma.

The Star Siblings: idk man, they were part of a whole episode and then faded into the background. It was a glorified cameo for an episode where Glimmer and Bow fight.

Glimmer’s Aunt: sorry but I was asking “where the hell is she?” until she finally showed up late. She barely had any purpose.

The Dirty

Hey, guys, girls, and nonbinary pals, can we sit down and talk about redemptions?

IDK about you, but just because a show is aimed at kids you shouldn’t “redeem” all the villains. This trend bothers me specially when it touches on abuse or totalitarian leaders.

Shadow Weaver was an abuser until the end. She shouldn’t have had a heroic sacrifice, and her “I’m proud of you” line was bitter for me. I’ve said before I was raised in an abusive household and I don’t think it’s healthy to tell children that you can change your abuser or that you can expect them to change without therapy. I’m glad Shadow Weaver died, but I wish her death wasn’t in any way shape or form considered a “redemption”. A heroic act of sacrifice doesn’t erase all the pain she cause and the years of trauma Catra and Adora have had to endure.

Hordak. HEY HEY ETRAPDAK SHIPPERS DON’T COME FOR ME! I was weirded up by the ship until I realized Etrapta is in her late 20s. I’m happy they found each other but I think it’d be better if Hordak had to redeem himself through a life of service to Etheria. He can't erase the horrible things he has done, but with the help of Entrapta and others, he could give back to the community he ruined. Since we don’t have an epilogue, we just see him reuniting with Entrapta at the end and that’s it.

ALSO SOMEONE GIVE MICAH A HAIR TIE. My man, you are not in a hostile island anymore, go rock a dad bun or a dad ponytail!

--

How do you guys feel about it?

I’m here looking at cute GIFs of Catra and that kiss scene on repeat. I want a Rogelio poster, he was my boy.

[border-spam]

Hmm I couldn't exactly remember my question... But do you think that or Troy/Tyreen would've known some of the COV personally (eg the named COV bosses in BL3) or no? If so do you have any hcs on that?

Hell yeah I love this question!

With answers based on my own HC’s and how I write the internal workings of the COV, absolutely. Yes. Totally. Gonna get a bit into the AU I’ve been working on here!

My COV is a giant, highly predatory pyramid scheme where the only progression is based on contribution. That could be through feats in combat, with monetary/weapon/stocks donations, or by increasing the overall reach of the cult through business acumen. Organising sponsorships. Running divisions, etc.

The two main paths within it are Fanatics, and Acolytes. Fanatics are your run of the mill follower. Psychos, bandits, people who have absolutely no value to the twins and will never reach any level of genuine power within the cult, but who are their main source of follower count. Their screaming war meat. The two billion $1 contributions that get sent every Lets Flay. 

Fanatics can move up within the tiers of the cult, the twins know that the urge to get closer to them is a way to motivate without spending a dime, even if they know no Fanatic will ever have value to either God. Sure, a follower may eventually become a Priest if they show enough unbridled devotion, a High Priest if the twins want to make an example of them, use them to rile up the rest of the debased scum to new levels of fanaticism, but they will never matter. Even a High Priest’s role within the COV is barely above slave to the Twin Gods, just something to fetch their current craving. Maintain the inner Cloisters of the Cathedrals, grovel. Cower. They will never be in a position of real power because the twins know they aren’t intelligent enough to handle it, to be trusted. They’d cut off a limb in sacrifice of their Gods, they’d tear each other apart to be graced with a smile. They are playthings in ceremonial robes.

Fanatics who reach High Priest rank may see the twins near daily, but they will never matter. They will never have names. They are marks. Drones who think they are far above their station than they really are, and reality can strike painfully quick if a High Priest were to step out of line to say.. a Saint.

Acolytes are the Eridian Tier Members. The sponsors, the business people. The media crew, the marketing division. Mouthpiece, Katagawa, if he’d been more willing. They are the people drawn to the COV for development of their own, not to worship two “Gods”. They may be intensely loyal to the twins, but they aren’t blinded by the religious undertones. They might use the COV for shelter, to escape persecution or a life they want to leave behind, but they turn to the twins for mutual benefit, not for worship. 

These are the people the twins can know by name. Troy’s media team are people he sees as people. Tyreen’s Acquisitions department have heads she can sit and discuss sponsorships and offers with while dropping her persona. These are the followers that the twins have value for and could know personally. 

Department heads that have shown loyalty, usefulness, and value can be elevated to Sainthood, like Mouthpiece and his broadcasting section. A Saint would be a head of a major division ranging across the entirety of the COV, from marketing, to engineering, to finance, and are viewed as close to the God Twins as anyone can be within the cult. Mouthpiece’s artistic depictions, his altar, his name being known within the COV, we talkin’ that level of notoriety. Sainthood comes with extreme perks generally, it’s a protected, well treated role directly in contact with the twins and usually with their attention when requested.

Each twin patrons different divisions like Tyreen would Marketing, or Troy would Engineering. The Saints working under each generally bear their patron twin’s tattooed sigil as a visible warning that this person is not just another follower and has been hand picked by a God to act as their direct underling. Do not touch. Do not even look at unless you want to risk your eyes being burned out.

Punishment for harming a Saint is public, used as a warning to others, and horrific.

Punishment for a Saint failing their God is… worse…

Asks are open!

[ladyshandioftheendless]

Shandi’s KISSteria drabbles 30!

Here we go, folks! This battle gon’ be BIG!! @misslivvie and I will most likely split it into a least two parts. Possibly three~ Here’s the first! Enjoy!

~Shandi

The battle of KISSteria: The Necromancer has a dirty little surprise for Black Dahlia and StarChild..

ONE SMALL LIFE Part 16

“Foolish Star Prince!!” the Necromancer scowled, holding his crystal ball high in the air. “The insignificant magic of the Sisterhood will not help you!! The Mistress is with us!! She will rend your flesh from your bones..and you shall rise again as her faithful servants!!” The red smoke swirling within the crystal ball burst forth, surrounding the undead. Black Dahlia knew exactly what would happen next. “So..he’s found a way to become even more powerful. He could resurrect those undead endlessly if they are still at his disposal. We’ve got to destroy them!” With a smirk on his face StarChild nodded. “I’ve got just the thing~” As Demon flew overhead he caught sight of StarChild signaling to him. His eyes glowed a deep red and he opened his mouth wide, raining fire down upon the rising undead. The Necromancer drew the smoke back to create a barrier around himself, leaving his undead to burn completely to ashes. 

“It is as we predicted.” 

StarChild turned to see Vinneketh standing beside him. “It seems so. Are you alright? Are you injured?” 

“Thankfully I am not. The Gods have shown me great favor this day.” 

“I’m glad to hear it. Where are the other Warriors?” 

“They have joined with the White Court in defending the Palace’s main gates.” 

A group of Cultists that had attempted to storm the gates were on their knees covering their ears. With the Sisters nullifying their magic Freddie had disoriented them with his voice, leaving Masika and Bomani an opening to give them a quick and bloody end with their blades. Any stragglers were shot through the head or the heart by Dalila’s arrows. 

StarChild stifled his laughter. “So much for them~” Vinneketh’s expression changed to one of amusement. “Indeed. The Cult is attempting to be clever, breaking off into smaller groups to attack multiple points around the Palace, but we haven them all..’beaten to the punch’ if you will.” Vince’s loud shriek echoed in their ears. Cultists screamed as they were blasted from the battlements and crashed to the ground. 

“GET WRECKED, MOTHERFUCKERS!!”

Deep, bone shattering chords rumbled from Nikki’s bass, cracking the ground open beneath the Cultists’ broken bodies. The last thing they heard was the Crue’s laughter as they fell to their deaths. Now it was Black Dahlia’s turn to be amused. “Well..they’re certainly having fun~” StarChild shrugged. “I expected nothing less~” He looked up to see Nikki wink at him, and he nodded and smiled in return.

 “I hate to say it..but they got a little bit too close for my taste.” Black Dahlia said with a frown. “I agree. That is why I sent a few of your Sisters to guard the southern walls.” Vinneketh placed his fingers against his temples to channel his energy. “I can share my vision with you.” StarChild and Black Dahlia’s eyes began to glow white. “Now..you may see through my eyes..” 

The vision opened to the Palace gardens. A group of Cultists had used an invisibility spell to get past the walls, but they could not get past the Sisters. With their staffs held high, the Sisters created a thick black miasma that ate through the spell. With no other options left the Cultists drew their weapons and attacked. 

“Entering somebody else’s home without knockin’? That’s impolite y’know~” 

The heavy black storm clouds that had gathered in the sky opened to reveal Ace, his eyes and hands crackling with electricity. He trapped the Cultists within a cage of lighting, making them easy prey for an enraged CatMan and his young Apprentice.

“FOR THE HONOR OF THE WILDCATS!! NOW YOU DIE!!” 

The vision faded as the Cultists were shredded to pieces by the WildCats’ claws and fangs.

StarChild sighed. “CatMan and Ace will see to the protection of the gardens. I have faith in them.” 

“And my Sisters will back them up.” Black Dahlia turned towards the red smoke growing again in the distance. “Vinneketh..send word. Tell the others to make certain they destroy the bodies utterly. If they are still intact then the Necromancer can use his magic to raise them again. StarChild, we must destroy his crystal ball. Without it he’ll be powerless.” 

Vinneketh nodded and ran off. “There is only one problem,” Black Dahlia said to StarChild as they readied themselves. “Getting close enough. He will be guarding that crystal ball more closely than he guards his fellow Cultists. He will suspect us.” 

That gave StarChild an idea. “Not if we lure him to us.” 

Black Dahlia looked at him for a second, then grinned. “I like the sound of that~ It’s the best we’ve got anyhow.” 

Snarling and screaming made them turn their heads, and they saw undead and living Cultists alike descending on a group of soldiers, slashing their throats and piling on top to overwhelm them. 

StarChild clenched his fists, and purple energy swirled and coiled around them. “Shall we~?” 

Black Dahlia twirled her staff. “Let’s~” 

They broke into a run towards the building mound of bodies, and right as they reached it Black Dahlia slammed her staff into the ground and StarChild leapt into the air. A powerful gust of wind tore through the battlefield, blowing the undead off the soldiers, while StarChild, now a comet of purple light, flew over the Cultists to pick them up and throw them off like they were nothing. Then he flew down to help a soldier off the ground. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, my Prince, we are.”

“Good.” StarChild patted his shoulder. “Keep fighting!” 

Freddie’s voice could be heard from the main gates. Brian continued playing his Red Special, assisting Freddie in incapacitating the Cultists, while Roger changed his drumsticks into escrima sticks, and John’s bass guitar became a morningstar mace. “Let’s get to work, Johnny boy!” Unfortunately John was caught off guard before he could attack when a Cultist’s weapon hit him in the head and sent him to the ground. 

“You shall be sacrificed to my Mistress!!” the man said fanatically as he raised the end of his spear in the air, aiming for John’s heart. “Rejoi—”

An arrow struck him through the heart, and he fell to the ground. Dalila lowered his bow and ran to John to help him up. “Are you all right..my darling~?”

“Fine…” John rubbed his head and gave him a nod. “Thank you..lovely~” 

“Dalila, c’mon!” Masika called from where he and Bomani were fighting. Masika was flipping and twisting and throwing his daggers, with the biggest grin on his face. “You’re missing all the fun!” 

Bomani cut down a Cultist with his axe. “That’s twenty for me!”

“I’m only on seventeen, come on!” 

Dalila sighed and shook his head. Leave it to his brothers to turn a battle into a competition. "As if they need my help. They seem to be doing just fine on their own~" 

"They certainly have an..interesting idea of fun as well~" John remarked. When Dalila turned to him and smiled he returned it, their gazes reflecting unspoken words of affection. As much as they longed to embrace, that had no place on the battlefield "This is..rather embarrassing. I must admit..as skilled as I am with my weapon I have never been in a battle of such..intensity. I would appreciate your assistance if you would care to accompany me~" Dalila's smile only widened. "We are allies are we not? I would consider it a grave injustice to not render aid when I am asked~"

"Then it would be an honor to have you backing me up~" John gripped his mace tightly as another group of Cultists ran towards them with weapons drawn. "Now..let's go make them seriously regret their life choices.."

In the sky, Demon swooped down, drenching Cultists attacking another group of soldiers with his blood. He landed next to the smoking, melting pile of flesh, setting it ablaze with his fire. "There's a few more that maniac can't resurrect." 

"W-we must fall back.." An injured soldier spoke in a voice barely audible. "If we die..we will just become undead fodder for the Necromancer..and we will not disgrace KISSteria in such a way!!" Demon nodded. "Regroup then. Take your injured inside the Palace where the Sisters can attend to you. Tell the others that can still fight to go to the Sisterhood's Temple. The people need their soldiers. The Armies of Rhye and Jendell can relieve you." 

"Yes sir! Retreat to the Palace, Army of KISSteria! We must ensure the safety of the people!!" 

"Demon! Demon!" 

Demon didn't even flinch when a frantic Fox barreled face first into his chest and fell backward. "Having trouble are we?" Fox rubbed his sore nose. "I've never had to fight like this. They won't even listen to reason. They just..want to kill.." 

"And they want my daughter." Demon snarled, red smoke billowing from his eyes. "But they won't have her. Not while I still draw breath." Fox looked up with wide eyes. He wished he had Demon's courage. His determination. Now he just felt..so useless.

"Demon!!" 

The sound of StarChild's voice startled him from his thoughts. 

"Why is my army retreating?!" 

Demon cracked his neck. "They were taking too many casualties. I told them to fall back to the Palace." StarChild frowned. "I had..no idea things were so dire for them. If that is what is best then so be it. Fox, you can help them. Make sure they get inside the Palace safely. These savages mean to end their lives to make more undead for their Master. Deny them." Fox swallowed a huge lump in his throat. "B-but I.." 

"Fox." StarChild's tone was firm but at the same time..comforting. "I would not have asked you to join KISS if I did not have faith in your abilities. I remember what you showed us when we performed together, don't you? I know you are afraid. We all are. Don't let it hinder you. Let it steel you. Let it make you fight harder for the innocent. Show them they should never underestimate the cunning and strength of the Fox." Demon placed a hand on Fox's shoulder. "You're not alone. You're never alone. I will be in the sky above. I will rain hell down upon them." Fox watched as Demon spread his wings again and flew off, disappearing into the clouds.

"StarChild, I need you!!" Black Dahlia yelled. StarChild clenched his fists. "I must go. Don't forget..you are not dead weight. You are here because you deserve to be." He smiled briefly before flying off, impaling the attacking Cultists with his star blades. "GET YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF HER!!" 

"I am cunning. I am strong. I am cunning. I am strong.." Fox repeated those words over and over under his breath. Just saying them wasn't enough though. He had to believe them as well. He looked up. Demon could not be seen, but he could be felt. 

He was always close just as he said he would be. "I have a job to do." he said with a furrowed brow, now glowing a bright orange. "I must protect the soldiers. Come to me, Fox Army. Help me fight for the defenseless!!" Energy burst forth from his body and took shape. Giant foxes. Regal. Beautiful. Powerful. They stood on either side of their Summoner, fangs and claws bared. "You all know who the enemy is. Not one more soldier dies today." 

Meanwhile Starchild and Black Dahlia were making headway. So much that it enraged the Necromancer. His brothers and sisters had accomplished nothing save minor scrapes. Could nothing be done about their blasphemous magic? 

Very well. If they could not kill the pesky prince and the Sister of the false gods, he would do it himself. 

"Time to face facts, Necromancer.." Black Dahlia pointed her staff as she and StarChild closed in on their target. "..you've failed. You're finished. Surrender now and we may find it in our hearts to go easy on you." 

"Easy..as in killing you outright instead of you rotting in a dungeon for the rest of your life." StarChild said, his eyes glowing brightly. The Necromancer held his crystal ball tightly in both hands, his expression seething with hatred. "You think you have me? Think again, blasphemers!! You.." He pointed to StarChild with a twisted grin. "I have a little gift for you~" He cringed. "Save it. I don't want anything from the likes of you." 

"Are you certain~?" Red smoke poured out from the crystal ball and began to take shape. A human shape. StarChild backed away, looking on with wide, horrified eyes. "No..no. It can't be!!" Black Dahlia  was at his side immediately. "What is it? StarChild!!" 

"GIVE ME THE CHILD!!" 

"NO!!" StarChild backed away from the smoky form of the Crimson Witch. "You can't be here!! YOU'RE DEAD!!" The Necromancer laughed. "Do you really believe you can stop the Mistress's resurrection?! You may think you are on the verge of victory by killing my brothers and sisters..but their deaths have only strengthened me!! Their souls fuel my power!! And now I summon the Mistress's spectral form to annihilate you!!" 

“Bastard..” StarChild cursed through gritted teeth. He glanced over at Black Dahlia who nodded to him. “Ever at your side, my friend.” He smiled. “I admit it..you caught me off guard with that one, Necromancer. But you’re forgetting..we’ve destroyed her before. Try not to cry when we turn your precious Mistress to dust. Again.” 

To be Continued!!

[karimarler47]

Medifast Diet What Number Of Carbohydrates Or Perhaps In Medifast Foods?

Despite Dr .. Atkins protestations to the contrary, ought to also possible to lose weight on high carbohydrate, restricted calorie diets, particularly if those diets are full of complex carbohydrates instead of simple ones (think whole-wheat and brown rice instead of takeout and white bread). Nowhere in Dr. Atkins' book was there any mention among the dietary habits of the remainder the world, where high carbohydrates normally a necessity, and obesity is not rampant. Given a choice, low fat may be safer, and long term studies have shown that consistent replacement of high fat snacks with low fat snacks (day-glow chips with air popped popcorn) provides each most consistent long-term weight.

Not only did I lower my carbohydrate intake, but after i ate carbohydrates, I only ate complex carbohydrates and therefore i ate all of them fat.and along with of that, I eliminated all refined foods from my diet, all easy and starchy carbohydrates, sugars, caffeine and wine. Not eating overall is important to you getting Reactive Hypoglycemia under control. So the Atkins Dishes are all discussion? Not at all. The Atkins weight loss plan is an efficient way to manage their weight. Under the Atkins diet, these immediately lose ten to fifteen pounds of water weight given that the liver loses all its stored carbs. Then you will switch to ketotic fat burning, with protein providing some glucose inefficiently. When protein is burned for fuel by the body, only 55% converts to energy, the rest converts to heat. Add to that the two hormones that slow down your urge to eat whenever high quantities of fat are present, plus you've got a recipe for rapid weight loss. The trouble will be the keto diet facts when you travel off Atkins you'll gain it returning. He is quite clear about that, in case you haven't it is so very important for Atkins to protect his diet plan as an insurance plan for life, not short-run weight grief. Do some cardio. It isn't mandatory, nevertheless it will develop a big impact. Try one 30-minute session at moderate intensity and one 15-minute HIIT session per week. While you're on the Ultimate Advanced Keto Review diet, it is recommended that you group on carbohydrates for a good 3 day cycle. On top of the third day, consume 1000 calories property value of carbs over two hours before your training for that day. You can pick between two options of car-loading. Determine 1) eat anything that you require or 2) start substantial glycemic carbs and then switch to low glycemic carbs. If you eat may you want during this phase, then you can certainly should stick to low-fat sugar. The whole purpose behind the carb-loading is to boost the glycogen in your muscles which will allow you to endure you will need workout. Proteins give you amino acids the body needs to build muscle and repair system needs. A diet deficient in protein are going to deteriorate without protein delivering the amino acids the demands. An ounce of chia seed provides 4.43 grams of protein which is a lot more protein than found a good ounce of eggs. Chia provides two-thirds the protein found in salmon. Yes, it is entirely easy to replace animals as a protein source with a crop grown by the Mayans. Recent numerous researches on gut bacteria reveal that by governing the composition of bacteria the guts, effortlessly raise the volume of of good quality bugs in guts that can us regulate our fat loss. Having said that, only few those who take probiotics have seen remarkable brings into play their automatic weight reduction after taking yogurts or fermented milk, or even the probiotic natural supplements. That said, not all folks will lose weight the particular manipulation of gut bacteria by way of consuming probiotics. Dr. Atkins ability to offer a high protein/high fat diet will make him a cult figure, and he encourages this by writing about his diet as "doing Atkins." Atkins didn't "invent" his diet program. A Banting diet from 1863 pushed high fat and protein. In the 1920's uncontrolled epileptics were put on a ketogenic (60% fat) diet, a practice that is once again popular in medical circles. More recently, a horde of high protein diets have poured onto the bookstore drawers. Atkins was the beginning of this horde, having tried a reduced carbohydrate diet himself in 1963. Correctly Diet book dates from 1992, but he is peddling comparable ideas since 1972 (the first 1972 "revolution" sold 10 million copies). Dr. Atkins has left the building. We have lost our fatty guru, so available to be a foil for any tofu munching, arugula crunching, low-fat health fanatics. Who'll champion the causal agent for the all-you-can-eat lard smorgasbord actually? Fear not, his legacy lives on, a person can still consume a chocolate cheesecake in front of your mates while mumbling something about doing The atkins diet.

[marcmyworks]

Quentin Tarantino is one of the best directors of both the 20th and 21st Century, which started with his first wide release film in 1992. He has just recently released his 9th (or 10th depending on your point of view) film, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood to rave reviews. As one of my favourite directors, I have decided to list rank each of his films. I want to first state that I love everything this man puts out, just some more than others. Lets begin.

*Spoilers below*

10. The Hateful Eight (2015)

The Hateful Eight is the least successful in Tarantino’s repertoire and I don’t mean financially. This film just seems to have little to no likeability, and before you say it, I do understand that each character is ‘hateful’ but at times it seems quite forced. 

Though well written and acted, it feels that the shocking moments are put in there simply to shock rather than provide any interest. We have the story of eight characters trapped in a cabin during a snowstorm, the film is Western themed, there is a revenge plot as well a bounty hunter. I really do not think this is a bad film in any regard, and it even feels like the sister film to Reservoir Dogs, but in terms of style and content it feels like a mishmash of things the audience has seen before from the Director, like his greatest hits, rather than a new and original story.

9. Death Proof (2007)

A lot of critics, and even Tarantino himself, have put this as the lowest ranking of his films on their list, I disagree. This may not be the most fleshed out story, but it is one of the most fun. I am ranking the unrated version of the film, as the theatrical version was cut down from its 113 minutes to 87 minutes to be incorporated as the Grindhouse double feature (with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror). The shorter version is the one critics saw and I don’t believe it does the full film justice. 

Death Proof is inspired by Grindhouse revenge films such as I Spit on Your Grave and include a multitude of young starlets and even re-launched the career of actor Kurt Russell. Overall the film is quite good though there are instances where it is quite obvious that a man wrote the female dialogue, which in the Me-Too age isn’t as acceptable. An example of this can be read here, where this character speaks about her father:

“Look, he’s totally harmless and cute as a bug's ear! But you know, when he's got a bunch of half-naked poontang walking the floor of his lake house, he just likes to pay us a visit and make sure we got everything we need.”

8. Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Tarantino’s first full length film is the smallest scale of his career as most of it takes place in one room. Though the scale is small, the dialogue and action are immense, the characters fleshed out and, in most ways, stands the test of time. The film was well received by audiences and made more than twice its meager budget, but at times it is quite obvious this was shot by a new director still formulating his style. Tim Roth (as Mr. Orange) is excellent as the newest member of the gang and his relationship with Harvey Keitel (Mr. White) is one of the strongest bromances in cinema history.

7. Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood (2019)

Though advertised as an accurate biographical account of the Manson Murders in 1960s Hollywood, this film is actually more fictional, less about these murders and more a love letter to the actors of that time. The story is centred around director Roman Polanski and wife Sharon Tate’s fictional neighbour, actor Rick Dalton and his stunt man Cliff Booth (based screen legends Steve McQueen and Burt Reynolds and the latter’s stunt-double Hal Needham). The film explores how the two are struggling to adapt to the ever-changing Hollywood, paralleling with the growth of the Manson family who are interested with the Tate/Polanski household. Though a long film, it does quite well at showcasing the struggles of actors in Hollywood, the indulgence of the rich and the rise of a fanatic cult.

6. Jackie Brown (1997)

In the 1990s Tarantino was one of the biggest Directors around, he had won an Oscar for his writing and audiences were anxiously awaiting his third film. After acquiring the film rights to Elmore Leonard’s novel ‘Rum Punch’, Tarantino started writing Jackie Brown with the intent on giving the script to another director; however, Leonard loved the script so much Tarantino decided to direct himself.

Jackie Brown takes inspiration from Blaxploitation films like Coffy and Foxy Brown, though with a slower pace and using much less action. Pam Grier, star of both the aforementioned films, was Tarantino’s only choice for the lead role and to this day he is amazed that she was not nominated for an Oscar. The film is a slow burn compared to Tarantino’s previous two movies and does have its issues with pacing and story consistency but does contain more humour.

5. Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)

The Kill Bill films are two of the coolest of Tarantino’s career; from the opening Klingon proverb, to the Pussy Wagon to the schlocky gore, this film was every film geek’s dream. Tarantino promised Uma Thurman that her birthday present would be the lead in his next film and a year after promising her this he delivered her the script. Originally conceived as one long epic film, it was split into two by production as it was felt the first half of the film had a different tone to the second. Producers also wanted to ensure it was a box office success and a four-hour film in the modern age was too much of a gamble. The first Kill Bill provides the groundwork for what is rarely seen in Hollywood, an even better sequel.

4. Django Unchained (2012)

Django is similar to the original film from 1966 in name only, as this version focuses on pre-American Civil War racism, slavery and the liberation a slave named Django. The film feels more like an homage to one of the biggest budget exploitation film of all time, Mandingo. It's a very simple story of a man who is trying to save his wife and along the way befriends a bounty hunter who aids him in his quest, but it is effective as it is a criticism of racism that still continues in the United States. Jamie Foxx does an excellent job portraying the titular character with Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson wonderfully playing the supporting roles.

3. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004)

I will say there is a large debate in the fan community whether the Kill Bill films should be ranked together as one film (as Tarantino states they should be), or whether they are two separate entities of a franchise as well which one is the better of the two. Upon first watching the films I was a bit disappointed Volume 2 did not have the same amount of camp violence as the first, as this film feels to be more a Spaghetti Western revenge film rather than a Samurai thriller. However, upon the re-watching the film multiple times it is quite obvious through the dialogue, storytelling and excellent cinematography that this is the superior film and is a contender for the top spot of Tarantino’s filmography.

2. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Inglorious Basterds is one of the films that not only has incredible star power but also has amazing gravitas. The film made Irish actor Michael Fassbender and German actor Christoph Waltz popular with American audiences with the latter’s excellent performance winning him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The Basterds, a team of Jewish mercenary’s who capture, interrogate and kill Nazis and are played by a group of talents including Brad Pitt, Eli Roth and B.J. Novak. They are up against the evil Hans Landa (Waltz) also known as “The Jew Hunter”, a Nazi Colonel who is employed to ensure security for a film event being attended by Adolf Hitler. The film itself is a tribute to American war propaganda films from the 1940s, and though one of his most brutal, is truly one of Tarantino’s best writing efforts.

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)

I know this is the obvious choice, but with good reason. Pulp Fiction is the first film anyone thinks of when they think Tarantino. Made up of seemingly random story vignettes and inspired by pulp magazines, Tarantino devised to make a film made up of simple short stories that only later the viewer could see were actually intertwined. Tarantino proved he could make interesting films on a smaller scale with his critically acclaimed film Reservoir Dogs and was able to bring in major stars such as Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, the latter of whom would star in or have roles in most of his pictures. The film was a box-office success and won several awards including the Academy Award for best writing. Though Tarantino has had many excellent films in his career, Pulp Fiction will always be the most iconic and original.